evidence: The mean temperature for the 10 years from 2011 to 2020 was the highest on record, at 0.94 °C above average, and 0.33 °C warmer than the 10 years 2001–2010. All years since 2013 have been amongst the ten warmest on record for Australia. Of the ten warmest years, only one (1998) occurred before 2005. Australia's climate has warmed on average by 1.44 ± 0.24 °C since national records began in 1910. Most of this warming has occurred since 1950. [...] In addition to the influence of natural drivers, Australia's climate is increasingly affected by global warming and natural variability takes place on top of this background trend. Australia's climate has warmed on average by 1.44 ± 0.24 °C since national records began in 1910, with most of the warming occurring since 1950. The ocean waters around Australia have also warmed significantly over the past century, and have been very warm consistently across the past two decades. The background warming trend can only be explained by human influence on the global climate. The role of climate change is further discussed in State of the Climate 2020. [...] The annual 2020 sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly for the Australian region was the equal-fourth-highest on record; 0.59 °C above the 1961–1990 average based on data from the NOAA Extended Reconstructed Sea Surface Temperature dataset, ERSST v5. SSTs around Australia have warmed by around one degree since 1910, similar to the increase in temperature observed over land. Above average annual SSTs have been observed for the Australian region for every year since 1995, and have been persistently high for the past decade.