The properties of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) nowadays are accessible by lattice QCD calculations at vanishing quark chemical potential [Formula: see text], but often lack a transparent physical interpretation. In this review, we report about results from an extended dynamical quasiparticle model (DQPM[Formula: see text]) in which the effective parton propagators have a complex self-energy that depends on the temperature [Formula: see text] of the medium as well as on the chemical potential [Formula: see text] and the parton three-momentum [Formula: see text] with respect to the medium at rest. It is demonstrated that this approach allows for a good description of QCD thermodynamics with respect to the entropy density, pressure, etc. above the critical temperature [Formula: see text] 158 MeV. Furthermore, the quark susceptibility [Formula: see text] and the quark number density [Formula: see text] are found to be reproduced simultaneously at zero and finite quark chemical potential. The shear and bulk viscosities [Formula: see text], and the electric conductivity [Formula: see text] from the DQPM[Formula: see text] also turn out in close agreement with lattice results for [Formula: see text] =0. The DQPM[Formula: see text], furthermore, allows to evaluate the momentum [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] dependencies of the partonic degrees of freedom also for larger [Formula: see text] which are mandatory for transport studies of heavy-ion collisions in the regime 5[Formula: see text]GeV [Formula: see text] 10[Formula: see text]GeV. We finally calculate the charm quark diffusion coefficient [Formula: see text] – evaluated from the differential cross-sections of partons in the medium for light and heavy quarks by employing the propagators and couplings from the DQPM – and compare it to the available lattice data. It is argued that the complete set of observables allows for a transparent interpretation of the properties of hot QCD.