The Murray River would have stopped flowing this year if not for the weirs and dams, the Murray-Darling Basin Commission said modelling had shown.

The commission said the Murray was reported to have stopped flowing between Tocumwal and Moama in 1850, and in 1902 during the Federation drought it stopped flowing for about six months.

Again in the 1914-1915 drought, flows in the Murray reached very low levels.

Under natural conditions the Murray would have ceased flowing during the more severe droughts, including the current dry period.

In the last couple of years a continuous flow along the length of the Murray has been maintained by drawing upon water stored upstream, particularly in the Hume and Dartmouth reservoirs when other tributary inflows are low.

Last week the commission released its drought update, noting that dry conditions in the Murray-Darling Basin continue to break records, with inflows over the past two years the lowest on record.

The Murray-Darling Basin Commission's chief executive Wendy Craik said the drought was continuing to worsen, when releasing the latest drought update for the basin.

Water storages are just 20 per cent full at a time when they should contain three times that volume.

The drought has now stretched on for seven years and the Bureau of Meteorology said a new experimental way of forecasting the weather was tipping a dry spring.

The commission's report said if not for the river infrastructure controlling flows, the Murray River would have ceased flowing as it had done last century.

The commission's update also shows that while most basin states have slashed the amount of water they're taking out of the system, Queensland is taking out more.

NSW is taking out much less than normal, and Victoria has significantly cut its extractions, but Queensland's share of water extractions has increased massively.

Asked why some states were allocating irrigation water but Victoria had not, Dr Craik said the allocations were up to the individual states.

Dr Craik said there would be enough water for "critical human needs" until next winter, but there would be little water for irrigators and the environment unless it rained.

The commission said it would take several wet years to get the basin back on track.