The Good Guys wholesales manager Brenton Plant said he had seen a drastic increase in the number of portable air conditioning units and fan sales.

“While portable air conditioning units have been on the market for a while, it is not until weather like this hits that people realise there is no installation time and that they can buy it and go straight home to cool their homes,” he said.

He said during the past few days the store had been busy, with people lining up before opening time. 

“It is not during the day that people realise they need to buy something, it is mainly when they wake up after a hot night of no sleep that they decide to go and buy an air conditioner,” Mr Plant said.

Kmart Kangaroo Flat manager Adam Dunstone said clam shell pools had been popular for people and pets.

“An abnormal number of people have come into the store asking for pools for pets,” he said.