With the five-match Test series between India and Australia locked at one-all, the tussle for the Border-Gavaskar trophy heats up not only on paper, but also on the ground with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting the temperature to reach 40 degrees in Melbourne on the first day of the Boxing Day Test.

Cricket Australia has advised the sold-out crowd on Boxing Day to brace for extreme conditions, with CA’s chief of cricket James Allsopp encouraging fans to take proper precautions while assuring additional drinks breaks for the players involved in the Test match.

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“The big thing is just making sure we encourage everyone to take proper precautions,” he said.

“For the players, they’ll probably be additional drinks breaks if it’s going to be the temperatures they’re expecting,” he added.

According to Angus Hines, senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne could reach a new weather record on the Boxing Day Test.

“A very hot Boxing Day for large parts of the country. Melbourne could be the warmest day for the first day of the Boxing Day test that we’ve seen on record,” Hines was quoted as saying by Fox Sports.

Melbourne is currently tipped to hit 39C on Boxing Day.

Meanwhile, Allsopp said there’s a good chance fans and players won’t be exposed to extreme conditions as it gets hotter later in the afternoon.

“Usually in Melbourne, the temperature gets a lot hotter later in the afternoon, so I anticipate the first and second session won’t get to that extreme, but obviously we want to make sure all our fans are looked after,” he said.

With CA already confirming that all general public tickets sold for the upcoming Boxing Day Test between India and Australia, it will be interesting to see whether the turnout challenges the earlier numbers. The MCG’s record turnout is 93,013 at the 2015 World Cup final, and 91,112 for a single day of Test cricket, for Boxing Day during the 2012-13 Ashes.

“We genuinely feel like there could be a record on the crowd, there’ll certainly be a record for an India-Australia Boxing Day Test,” Allsopp said.

“The weather might have an impact in terms of how hot it does get, and how people feel about that, but we’re anticipating a monster crowd and the series is just so well set up.”

After Melbourne, the series moves to Sydney for the New Year’s Test.