The Loop: Australia's bushfire season preview, Lachlan Murdoch takes on Crikey, John Farnham recovering after cancer surgery, and a church's Hamilton apology

Hi there. It's Wednesday, August 24 and you're reading The Loop, a quick wrap-up of today's news.

Let's start here: Australia's upcoming fire season

We might be in the final days of winter, but AFAC, the national council for fire and emergency services, is already looking ahead to the warmer months.

Here are the key takeaways from their spring outlook:

• Wet weather has dampened the fire risk for the coming months, with regions in eastern NSW and Victoria are below normal fire risk thanks to persistent rain
• The rest of southern Australia, including Tasmania, South Australia, southern Western Australia and Queensland are all sitting on normal fire potential
• Unusually abundant fuel loads in parts of Central Australia and northern parts of Western Australia have prompted an above-normal fire potential
• But fire chiefs around the country are warning us not to be complacent, saying normal fire potentials for the upcoming season can still result in deadly bushfires

This map might look pretty good for our southern regions, but bear in mind deadly fires can still occur in a normal year. (Supplied: AFAC)

We heard a lot about the legal battle between Crikey and Lachlan Murdoch

If you're just catching up, the media boss and son of Rupert Murdoch is suing the company which owns the news website Crikey. Here's the gist:

• Mr Murdoch's lawyers filed a statement of claim in the Federal Court on Tuesday afternoon against Private Media, saying an article published on June 29 linked his family to the January 6 insurrection in Washington DC
• The analysis article, written by Crikey's political editor Bernard Keane, named "the Murdochs" as "unindicted co-conspirators" in the Capitol riots
• Mr Murdoch alleges the article contained several defamatory statements, including that he "illegally conspired" with Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 election result and incite an armed mob to march on the Capitol
• Lawyers for Crikey say there was no evidence that Mr Murdoch did any of the things described in legal letters, and denied Crikey had said he did, while Crikey's editor Peter Fray says he stands by the article
• The legal action comes after Crikey publicly challenged Mr Murdoch to sue the publisher, taking out a full-page ad in the New York Times earlier this week

A Crikey article named the media dynasty as "unindicted co-conspirators" in the deadly attack on Washington's Capitol. (Reuters: Brendan McDermid)

News alerts you might have missed

• The family of Aishwarya Aswath say the beginning of a coronial inquest is one of the most important days of their lives. The seven-year-old died of sepsis after waiting almost two hours to be seen at Perth Children's Hospital on April 3 last year.

Aishwarya's parents are hoping the inquest delivers some closure about what happened to her. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)

• John Farnham is recovering in ICU after a marathon 11-and-a-half hour surgery to remove a tumour from his mouth. His family announced the surgery had been successful last night through a statement from Gaynor Wheatley and David Wilson.

• Essendon's CEO Xavier Campbell has resigned from the AFL club as the fallout from its failed chase for Alastair Clarkson and the sacking of Ben Rutten continues. Campbell took over as CEO in 2014 after the infamous supplements saga.

What Australia has been searching for online

• Black hole. Audio shared by NASA of a black hole has gone viral online, letting us hear the low, creepy drone from the comfort of Earth. Here's how they were able to create it.

• Em Rusciano. The comedian, writer, singer and TV personality addressed the National Press Club in Canberra, where she spoke about her experience of being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. Want to catch up? Look back with our live blog.

One more thing

A Texas church has apologised to Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda after staging an unauthorised production of his Broadway musical to include Christian themes.

The Door Christian Fellowship McAllen Church's production was live streamed on August 5, with clips of the musical shared on social media, with users quick to point out the songs and script had been changed to include references to Christianity — and prompting the official Hamilton's lawyers to send a cease-and-desist letter.

In a statement posted on Instagram, church pastor Roman Gutierrez apologised to Miranda, Hamilton's producers and "numerous others" for the production "that infringed on the rights and copyrights of many".

The church has agreed to not stage the performance again, will destroy all recordings of the performance and rehearsal, and will pay damages.

You're up to date

We'll be back to do it all again tomorrow.

ABC/wires