Large chunks of southeastern Australia have received the “best rains in a long, long time” in the past week, turning the money tap on for thousands of farmers.

Farmers in parts of Gippsland celebrated drought-breaking rains while in the Wimmera, crops were filling their potential.

At Willaura, farmers who had been hit by successive droughts and fires described it as a “godsend”.

Some of the biggest falls were recorded in the state’s west: Mount William had 115mm, Warracknabeal got 82mm while Donald received 63mm. In Gippsland, locations around the Thomson catchment area had heavy falls, including Cowwarr with 186mm, while Sale got 80mm and Bairnsdale, 113mm.

But not all farms fared well, with South West Victoria and parts of East Gippsland still running up to 250mm behind their annual average rainfall-to-date.

Orbost had 60mm last week and on the weekend, but remains 200mm behind its annual rainfall to date average. Warrnambool had 21mm, but is tracking 100mm behind its normal rain-to-date; Mortlake is 90mm behind where it should be and Hamilton is lagging by 70mm.

In Gippsland, Gifford West livestock producer Steve Harrison said his farm had 89mm across the weekend, breaking the drought conditions that forced him to feed sheep and cattle for the past three months.

“The whole morale has changed now, across the district,” Mr Harrison said.

“We are all very happy with what we have had. It didn’t do any damage, it was just nice soft, easy rain, it is very good.”

Willaura farmer Pat Millear said the timing “couldn’t be better”, setting them up for the rest of the season and putting bulk into pastures.

“It is the best rains we had had in a long, long time,” he said.

In the Wimmera, Murra Warra farmer David Jochinke said the boost to subsoil moisture was the real benefit and would go into the bank for next year’s crops.

He had 64-86mm across his farm and said it was beneficial timing for his crops, apart from standing oaten hay, which was now “a bit of a tangled mess”.

Bureau of Meteorology senior metrologist Dean Narramore said the rain was “broad, it was heavy, and soaking rain for many parts of Victoria and far eastern South Australia as well and southern NSW”.

“Probably for a few people, too much of a good thing with falls of around 80mm at places like Warracknabeal which is well in excess of a month’s worth of rain,” he said.

Looking ahead, he said there could be more rain this Friday, Saturday, and possibly a bigger rain system into next week.