Adelaide time now, live flip clock
Adelaide and the whole of South Australia use ACST, UTC+9:30 as standard time, then ACDT, UTC+10:30 for daylight saving. That puts the state 30 minutes behind Sydney in every season. The flip clock at the top of the page gives Adelaide time now, a second at a time.
Time in Adelaide, Australia at a glance
- Time zone
- Australian Central Time (ACST)
- Standard time
- ACST, UTC+9:30
- Daylight saving time
- ACDT, UTC+10:30
- Used in
- Australia
Time zone names for developers
IANA time zone identifier: Australia/Adelaide
Where Adelaide's clock applies
Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills, Mount Gambier and Morphett Vale all read this clock, with the rest of South Australia. Across the state border, Broken Hill in New South Wales keeps the same offsets under a separate tz entry.
| Place | Where | Clock changes |
|---|---|---|
| South Australia | the whole state | |
| New South Wales | Broken Hill only, the County of Yancowinna |
When the clocks change in Adelaide, Australia
Clocks in Adelaide change twice a year.
- On Sunday 4 October 2026 at 2:00 AM, clocks went forward one hour, to ACDT.
- On Sunday 4 April 2027 at 3:00 AM, clocks go back one hour, to ACST.
- On Sunday 3 October 2027 at 2:00 AM, clocks go forward one hour, to ACDT.
How many hours ahead or behind Adelaide
On 24 October 2026, Sydney is 30 minutes ahead of Adelaide.
| City | Difference from Adelaide |
|---|---|
| Sydney | 30 minutes ahead |
| Brisbane | 30 minutes behind |
| Darwin | 1 hour behind |
| Perth | 2 hours 30 minutes behind |
| Kolkata | 5 hours behind |
| Singapore | 2 hours 30 minutes behind |
| London | 9 hours 30 minutes behind |
| New York | 14 hours 30 minutes behind |
| Your time zone | Detected after this page loads |
How South Australia sets its clock
- A half-hour offset fixed by state law
- 142.5°
- South Australia's Standard Time Act fixes one time throughout the state, ACST, UTC+9:30. The Act measures it from Coordinated Universal Time, as maintained under the Commonwealth's National Measurement Act. An older Act, which it repealed, tied the state's time to a meridian 142.5 degrees east of Greenwich. At 15 degrees to the hour, that meridian gives the same half-hour offset. The tz data shows Adelaide on it since that older Act took effect.
- Summer time set by regulation
- ACDT
- The Daylight Saving Act puts summer time one hour ahead of standard time, across the whole state. It leaves the dates to regulation. Under the Daylight Saving Regulations now in force, clocks go forward early on the first Sunday in October. They go back on the first Sunday of the following April.
- Ahead of Brisbane in summer, behind it in winter
- Changes sides
- Queensland keeps AEST, UTC+10 through the year. In winter Adelaide is 30 minutes behind Brisbane. When Adelaide moves its clocks forward, it passes Brisbane and leads it by the same margin. Western Australia does not change its clocks either. So in winter Adelaide is 1 hour 30 minutes ahead of Perth, and summer adds an hour to that lead.
- A time zone change, studied and dropped
- Dropped
- In a public consultation, the state government asked South Australians whether to change the time zone. Its news release named two directions, in line with the eastern states or closer to Western Australia. The SA Centre for Economic Studies wrote a cost-benefit analysis for the Department of State Development. A later ministerial statement said the draft bill would not proceed. A bill that followed in the Legislative Council proposed deleting "and 30 minutes" from the Standard Time Act. The Act in force today still sets the half hour.
Questions about Adelaide time
What time is it in Adelaide now?
Adelaide's current time is on the live clock at the top of this page, to the second. The state switches from ACST to ACDT each spring and back each autumn. The clock above follows both changes, so its reading is right in every month. Mount Gambier and the Adelaide Hills show the same time as the city.
What do ACST and ACDT mean?
They are the two codes of Australian Central Time, the zone Adelaide keeps. Outside summer time, Adelaide's clocks show ACST, its standard time. For summer the state moves to ACDT, an hour later. In the tz database both codes come from one pattern, and only the third letter changes with the season.
Is Adelaide on the same time as Darwin?
Only from April to October, while Adelaide is on the same time as Darwin and both keep ACST. The Northern Territory does not change its clocks for summer. So while South Australia keeps daylight time, Adelaide runs one hour ahead of Darwin and Alice Springs.
What is the time difference between Adelaide and India?
Adelaide is 4 hours ahead of India between the April and October clock changes. When Adelaide moves to summer time, India keeps the same clock, so Adelaide's lead over India grows by an hour.
Sources
We checked each fact on this page against these sources on 20 October 2026. Times, offsets and clock changes come from the time zone database.