Lachlan Morton is almost a third of the way through his record attempt of 14,201 kilometers around Australia, entering the first 10 days of scorching pace and weather.

The EF Education-EasyPost rider has covered more than 4.5 thousand kilometers since leaving Port Macquarie, New South Wales on Thursday, September 5. They stopped in Darwin on Saturday afternoon.

Aided by some tailwinds, according to Morton's live tracking page, the average daily mileage is not far from 480 km, well above the target of around 400 km set when the plan was announced.

The round-the-Australia record Morton is attempting to break is currently 37 days, 20 hours, and 45 minutes, according to the Australian Road Records Association, and was set by Dave Alley in 2011.

It wasn't all smooth sailing for Morton on the East Coast, with magpies swooping in and flat pedaling to ease the “hot flashes” in his legs. Later, as Morton headed west on the long, straight, inland road, he faced rising temperatures.

“I woke up in the middle of the night soaked in sweat,” Morton said in a video report posted on Instagram after day nine of the run to Katherine.

“My body is trying to heal itself. Getting up out of bed felt like death, but once my legs started moving I was fine.”

“I was a little nauseous and lost all my breakfast. Not ideal, but it happens.”

The weather service had announced highs of 35°C or higher in the towns of the Northern Territory through which Morton was passing. Morton covered about 500 kilometers on Friday, despite encountering “an afternoon of intense heat.”

He predicted that “tomorrow will probably be a cold day” after arriving in Darwin on Saturday, with the goal of seeing Darwin and staying overnight.

The plan seemed to work, and Morton's tracking dot paused in the Northern Territory capital early Saturday afternoon local time (Darwin is 9.5 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time). Morton's journey can be followed on the live tracking page, and donations can be made on Morton's Indigenous Literacy Fund fundraising page.