Victoria has confronted its worst bushfires since Black Saturday as a series of blazes lit up the state, destroying at least 10 homes and thousands of hectares of bushland.
On a day uncannily reminiscent of the one on the same weekend five years ago when soaring temperatures and strong, unpredictable winds created an inferno that claimed 173 lives, Sunday's fires burned from the far east to the South Australian border.
The most serious outbreaks flared in and around Melbourne with three houses destroyed in an intense blaze at Warrandyte on the city's northern fringe.
Other homes went up at Mickleham, near Melbourne airport, further north at Gisborne and at Morwell in the Latrobe Valley.
The Morwell blazes also burned in the vicinity of two open-cut mines and one of Australia's biggest power stations.
While the fire failed to directly affect power generation, around 12,000 Victorian homes suffered outages due to spikes in demand and damage to power lines.
Fire Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley said the Sunday afternoon fires were "very, very intense and very quick-moving".
While the fires are the worst in Victoria since Black Saturday, Mr Lapsley said they are far less devastating.
"It's not the same as 2009 .. that came after 13 years of drought," he said.
"It's up there, but it's not the same."
Mr Lapsley also said there had been no deaths or significant injuries as a result of the fires.
Incident controller Chris Hardman said the Mickleham and Warrandyte fires moved particularly fast with the wind change early in the afternoon, turning them back on themselves and opening new and wider fronts.
"The wind change complicated firefighting efforts and the impact has resulted in the loss of several homes and assets," Mr Hardman said.
The comparatively small fire that claimed three houses at Warrandyte was contained late on Sunday afternoon after threatening to engulf entire streets.
"Even though this fire was contained at 10 hectares there have been some terrible losses and heartache for the local community to deal with," Mr Hardman said.
More than 350 firefighters and 60 trucks battled the fires in Mickleham and Warrandyte, while a further 126 trucks fought the 3000-hectare fire in Gisborne and nearby Riddells Creek that had been brought under control by late evening.
In other areas, several communities north-east Orbost in east Gippsland were urged to evacuate ahead of a wind change while a number were warned they were likely be affected by fires, the worst of which was burning near Bendoc where some 30,000 hectares were affected.
Premier Denis Napthine said help is available for anyone impacted by the blaze.
"The Victorian government has an assistance package in place that will be rolled out immediately for those people who have lost their homes," Dr Napthine said.
The fires also cut most major highways in the state, including those leading to Melbourne.
The road closures and the widespread evacuations from the fire-affected areas caused major traffic disruption in regional centres and around Melbourne with several arterial roads in gridlock.
Mr Lapsley said weather conditions are expected to be less severe over the next few days, but the fire risk will remain extreme.
