Meanwhile a slight rise in the Katherine River led to the closure of the Hot Springs and Knotts Crossing late last week.

“This situation will be monitored closely and closure will remain until further notice,” Katherine Town Council advised on Friday.

Temperatures are forecast to rise throughout the week with 39 degrees tipped for Thursday and 40 degrees for Friday.

Katherine’s record January scorcher was 40.2 degrees recorded back in 2012.

The arrival of the monsoon-driven wet season rains have been delayed across the Top End with little change expected over the next week.

Katherine has recorded 65mm already this new year against an average for January of 268mm.

The January record is of course the flood year of 1998 when 732mm fell.

The Katherine River height is today a low of 1.25 metres.

The low river is good news for the council which announced late last year it hopes to do some work on the stalled hot springs project this month before the normal big river rises.

“Interim works are planned to occur on site around January 2019 to shore up the in-progress works on site,” the council’s update said.

“As the works were paused mid-construction, we are trying to reduce the possibility of any river related damage to the construction during the current wet season. Nature is hard to predict, but we are doing our best!”

The council’s update said the project was still on track, with the onsite restart of the project planned for the beginning of the 2019 dry season.

“Council are now in the negotiations phase with the builder for the Stage 1B works to determine the final scope. Stage 2 works are also being designed as we write to allow for these works to be commenced during the 2019 dry season as well.

“Elements of the project already completed, including the successful pop-up cafe experience, an exercise station, a portion of terraced gabion stone wall and access to the springs, greater amenity and improved parking will be supplemented through the Stage 2 design works of an upper level playground, a dining experience, landscaping as well as disability access.

“Key to council’s planning is reduced impact to users and businesses, but the nature of construction works makes this a challenging task. Our focus still remains on completing the project as quickly as possible, obtaining a high quality result and achieving value for money.

“We thank our community and businesses for their patience whilst this project is progressed and very much look forward to sharing the park when it is completed.”