Australians were treated to the brightest display of the Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights over the weekend, the result of the most intense geomagnetic storm since 2003.
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The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said an especially fierce geomagnetic storm in the Earth's magnetosphere led to the spectacular light show over both nights of the weekend.
Officials from the BOM said the lights were visible as far north as Mackay, well beyond the normal extent of sightings.
Normally the lights are only visible from latitudes in line with Victoria and south.
The Bureau issued a geomagnetic storm G5 warning on Saturday.
G5 - extreme planetary conditions were reached 9:45 am AEST on Saturday and G4 - severe conditions were reached in the Australian Region at 7:00 pm later that day.
BOM officials said a G5 planetary geomagnetic storm has not occurred since October 2003.
Across the country there were spectacular photos of the light show, caused when geomagnetic storms, in turn caused by solar flare.
There remains a low level risk of geomagnetic storms until Tuesday which will mean there is still the chance of seeing the lights, although sightings are likely to contract to more traditional southern regions.
The G-scale, used by the BOM as a measure of global geomagnetic activity, refers to fluctuations in the Earth's magnetic field across the globe.
It ranges from G1 (minor) to G5 (extreme).
Warnings and information are compiled by the BOM's Australian Space Weather Forecasting Centre (ASWFC), the official source of space weather forecasts, alerts and warnings in Australia.
