What happens in extreme heat?

The heat policy is designed to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of players, team personnel, officials and spectators.

• In extreme situations the Technical Committee may reschedule matches to avoid peak heat, and will liaise with teams about game time changes well in advance, with travel logistics amended accordingly.
• Every stadium must have a thermometer. On days when the ambient temperature inside the venue reaches 30 degrees Celsius, the court temperature must be taken hourly while the stadium is in use and recorded in a permanent record kept at the stadium.
• If the temperature inside the stadium is 31 degrees or above, the referees must call an additional compulsory time-out in each quarter if no time-out has been called by halfway through the quarter. The first and third quarter breaks are extended from two minutes to three.
• If the stadium temperature reaches 36 degrees or above, the game must be abandoned.
• Where high temperatures are expected, organisers must make reasonable attempts to ensure first aid and medical personnel are accessible, venue officials know the symptoms of heat stress, players can cool themselves with water and fans, players know to hydrate before and after the game, and adequate ice and ice packs are available.
• A game abandoned under the heat policy is decided by the same formula as any abandoned game: a margin of 20 or more points stands at the score when abandoned; under 20 points before half time, or under 10 points between half and three-quarter time, means the game is abandoned and League Management decides whether it is replayed; after three-quarter time the result stands.