UP to 20 homes have been destroyed in Victoria and at least one has been lost in NSW, as fires continue to ravage the nation.
Firefighters and police will this morning assess the full extent of the damage caused by a grassfire that burned through 1100ha in central Victoria.
The fire swept through the Chepstowe area, 30km west of Ballarat, about 6pm, destroying bushland and up to 20 homes.
Four people were taken to hospital suffering smoke inhalation, while a father and son suffered minor burns as they fled the fire and took refuge in a dam.
The fast-moving fire, one of 13 burning across Victoria, was fanned by southwesterly winds.
Firefighters, supported by air water-bombers, battled the out-of-control blaze as it charged Lake Burrumbeet just after 4pm.
Smoke billows over grazing land in the Carlaminda area near Cooma. Picture: Ray Strange
Water bombing aircraft, including the aircrane Gypsy Lady, were called to help firefighters quell the blaze.
Ray Allen and his son were lucky to escape with their lives after they were forced to abandon their car and run to a dam.
The pair suffered minor radiant heat burns to their faces and the exposed skin on their arms and were taken to the Ballarat Base Hospital.
Adding to the anxiety, the CFA website was inundated as people logged in seeking information.
Carngham is under threat, with CFA sources confirming the historic million-dollar horse-breeding property, Carngham Station, had been razed.
A bushfire burns towards the North West Tasmanian coastal hamlet of Detention River, near Burnie. Picture: Stuart McEvoy
The station's live-in gardener, Ron Bolton, said the embers that started raining on the property quickly started an inferno.
"The CFA was actually on the grounds at the time, but they couldn't do anything to save it. It was just too hot," Mr Bolton said. "The house I live in is still intact, but it's the only building left on the property."
More than 200 cattle have been destroyed, and it is believed farmland had been burned.
Resident Noel Hayes said six or seven houses up the road from him had been destroyed, although this had not been confirmed by authorities.
His home was spared thanks to a twist of fate with the wind.
"The worst is past us now, the wind wasn't blowing our way, thank God," Mr Hayes said.
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In NSW, at least one home has been destroyed at Jugiong and another 20 were reported to be under immediate threat in that area.
In NSW, homes are under threat as firefighters battle more than 130 blazes in 40C-plus temperatures and conditions officially rated as "catastrophic".
The worst fires were in the south of the state, near Cooma, Nowra, Bega and Wagga.
Lance Lotze, Lisa Lotze and Deb Jones with 25 year old Cockatoo Oscar, all from Wandandian, pictured on the highway after evacuating from their home with their animals near the Dean's Gap fire south of Nowra.Picture: Dan Himbrechts
A southerly change has blown through, but firefighters are concerned that the associated wind change could turn fire flanks into new fire fronts and send them towards other communities.
Sydney recorded a peak temperature of 42.5C.
RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said that "we have been very fortunate" in the face of "dirty, hot difficult conditions".
More than 1600 firefighters were in the field or on standby on Tuesday night, after temperatures climbed and blazes fanned by winds over 70 km/h burned more than 60,000 hectares of grass, scrub and bushland.
Thirty homes were threatened by a fire 12km east of Cooma - 20 in the Kybeyan Valley and 10 around Mount Forest Road in the Cooma-Monaro area.
Firefighters tackle the Dean's Gap blaze. Picture: Dan Himbrechts
RFS Riverina spokesman Matt Apps said firefighters aimed to shore up containment lines on Tuesday night particularly at Tarcutta and the Wokolena grass fire and were watching a southerly change.
"The wind change makes it unpredictable," he said.
At the township of Tarcutta, in southwest NSW, a bushfire burnt through 500 hectares and surrounded the town.
But by the early evening the Hume Highway was reopened in both directions with the immediate threat to the village passing.
However, RFS spokesman Brendan Doyle urged people to remain vigilant.
"If the southerly wind changes, that may push the fire back on to the town," he said.
Meanwhile, just before 7.30pm (AEDT) the RFS issued an emergency warning for people east of Bungendore near the Kings Highway after a fire was spotted near Mulloon Road, possibly threatening homes.
At Wandanian, south of Nowra, the Princess Highway was closed in both directions on Tuesday night as a southerly wind change saw a large bushfire burn out of control.
"It is too late for people to leave the area," the RFS said.
"These people should prepare their homes and themselves for possible fire impact."
Fire crews returning from the Dean's Gap fire near Sussex Inlet, south of Nowra. Picture: Dan Himbrechts
Up to 90 per cent of NSW was in severe danger, with conditions officially described as catastrophic in the Illawarra, Shoalhaven, the Southern Ranges, the northern and eastern Riverina and southern parts of the lower Central West Plains.
Three youths were taken into police custody on Tuesday afternon after a suspicious fire in Shalvey in Sydney's west.
Firefighters contained the blaze, which affected about 10 hectares of bushland.
A total fire ban will remain in place across NSW on Wednesday.
The Salvation Army has launched the Australian Disaster Relief Appeal in response to the bushfires in communities in NSW and other communities across Australia.
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In Tasmania, residents and tourists stranded on the Tasman Peninsula for five days have finally been led out of the devastating bushfire zone as fire crews continue to battle blazes across the state.
For locals led out of the Forcett-Dunalley region, it was the first time they had seen the devastating impact the fire has had on their community.
But they have been warned the continuing danger of fires, asbestos and contaminated water could keep them from their homes for weeks.
Firefighters continue to battle 40 bushfires around the state, with five blazes still considered a major threat.
A fire at Montumana in the North-West is causing most concern, an emergency warning sparking the evacuation of residents from the holiday hamlet of Rocky Cape and the closure of the Bass Highway.
Tasmania Fire Service chief officer Mike Brown and emergency services minister David O'Byrne said it may be weeks before residents can return to their homes as regions, particularly Dunalley, were riddled with asbestos and contaminated water.
Mr O'Byrne said 300 homes in the Forcett had their power restored yesterday and work was continuing to restore power to other parts of the fire ravaged region.
Mr O'Byrne said Workplace Standards had already started working on a clean up plan for areas that were riddled with asbestos.
Premier Lara Giddings said the Department of Health and Human Services was working on getting protective clothing so that residents could visit their homes for the first time.
The calls came as a team from Victoria arrived in Hobart to help search burnt out properties in the Dunalley region for the bodies of people police fear may have perished in the fires.
Tasmania Police assistant commissioner Donna Adams said there were still no confirmed deaths but police were concerned about what the future may hold.
Ms Adams said there were about 100 people still unaccounted for.
Police will not release the names of the people they are most concerned about.
Rumours circulating on social media that bodies were being removed from properties during the afternoon were denied by police.
The Insurance Council of Australia said claims from fire victims in southern Tasmanian had reached more then $40 million.
But the damage bill is expected to reach hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Tasmanian Fire Service continued to warn Tasmanians about the threat of bushfires with the status of a number of blazes around the state consistently changing.
About noon, the Forcett-Tasman Peninsula fire flared up near the township of Eaglehawk Neck.
Residents were warned it was too late to flee the fire and urged to seek the refuge at the local jetty and beach.
A convoy of trucks that had been sent to the region with emergency supplies was then left stranded.
Shortly after a new fire front emerged near Beaconsfield in the state's north before quick action contained the danger.
Serious fires continue to burn uncontrolled in Mathinna, in the north east, near Bicheno on the East Coast and near Giblin River in the remote south west.
Authorities hope a cool change today will help efforts to contain the fires.
Mr Brown said bushwalkers near the Giblin River been relocated by helicopter to a safer region and Parks and Wildlife personnel continued to monitor the area.
Ms Giddings announced the establishment of the Interim Bushfire Recovery Committee yesterday to oversee recovery efforts.
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