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Daylight saving time is about to conclude for certain states and territories, providing an extra hour this weekend.
This time shift is intended to extend evening daylight during the summer months. As winter nears, the clocks fall back to allocate more daylight to the morning hours.
Here’s a comprehensive guide to what you need to know as daylight saving time wraps up for the year.
When does daylight saving time end this year?
In 2026, daylight saving time will officially end on Sunday, April 5th, at 3 a.m. AEDT.
At this time, clocks will be set back one hour to 2 a.m., granting Australians an extra hour of sleep. This effectively means that the hour between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. will occur twice, lengthening the night by an hour.
Daylight saving time occurs every year from the first Sunday in October to the first Sunday in April.
From this Sunday, mornings will be brighter as the sun rises earlier due to the clock adjustment.
Which states and territories observe daylight saving?
It’s up to individual states and territories to decide whether they wish to observe it, but those a bit further from the equator have adopted the time zone change.
Daylight saving time is observed in:
- NSW
- Victoria
- South Australia
- Tasmania
- ACT
- Norfolk Island
The following states and territories do not observe daylight savings:
- Queensland
- Western Australia
- Northern Territory
- Christmas Island
- Cocos (Keeling) Islands
How do the time zones change?
When daylight saving ends, Australia effectively loses two of its five time zones. Here’s how it will look from 5 April:
- Queensland, NSW, ACT, Victoria and Tasmania will be in Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST).Â
- Northern Territory, South Australia and Broken Hill (NSW) will be in Australian Central Standard Time (ACST), which is half an hour behind AEST.
- Western Australia will remain on Australian Western Standard Time (AWST), which is two hours behind AEST and 1.5 hours behind ACST.
Daylight saving time will return on Sunday, October 4, 2026.
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