The city also experienced its hottest April day on record days before the rain hit.

Bendigo hit a top temperature of 34.3 degrees  on April 11, beating the previous monthly record of 33.7 degrees set in 2004.

The Bureau of Meteorology measured 10.2 millimetres of rain for the city on April 15 – and 10.8mm for the month.

This is well below the average April rainfall of 32.2mm.

It was the driest April on record since 2013.

Elsewhere, Maryborough received only 16.5 per cent of its average April rainfall, with 6.4mm falling throughout the month.

Castlemaine received just over a quarter of its mean rainfall with 9.6mm.

Only 9mm fell on Echuca throughout April – 33.5 per cent of the average – and 14.8mm on Redesdale.

So far this year, Bendigo has received a total of 41.4mm of rain, compared with 231.4mm at the same time last year.

Bureau of Meteorology data shows Bendigo’s mean average rainfall at this time of the year is 127.3mm.

The last time the city experienced such a dry start to the year was in 2004, when only 26mm had fallen by the end of April.