A record high annual mean temperature of 20.4 degrees Celsius was recorded at Cobar Meteorological Office, the town's highest in 51 years, which surpassed the previous record of 20.3 in 2005.

The figures are contained in the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) Annual Climate Report 2014, which confirmed Australia recorded its third warmest calendar year since national temperature records began in 1910.

Walgett Airport's automatic weather station recorded NSW's highest daily maximum temperature of 49.1 on January 3, 2014.

That same day, Collarenebri recorded its own record highest daily temperature, a scorching 48 degrees.

That beat its previous high of 47.8 degrees on January 15, 1939.

Also on January 3, 2014, Coonabarabran notched up its highest daily temperature in 58 years of records - 44 degrees, beating the town's previous record of 42.6 on January 4, 1973.

Assistant Director for Climate Information Services Neil Plummer said 2014 was characterised by frequent heatwaves and warm spells plus a notable reduction in cold weather.

"Much of Australia experienced temperatures very much above average in 2014, with mean temperatures 0.91 degrees Celsius above the long-term average," he said.

"This follows the warmest year on record in 2013, which was 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than average.

"Particularly warm conditions occurred in spring 2014, which was Australia's warmest spring on record. El Nino-like effects were felt in drier and warmer conditions in much of eastern Australia during 2014."