Two people have been confirmed killed, with fears held for a third, in a bushfire burning out of control north of Adelaide.
Other people, including firefighters, have been injured and numerous buildings destroyed as the blaze roared across more than 85,000 hectares of cropping land on Wednesday, threatening a string of towns.
The blaze remained uncontrolled into the night with more than 300 firefighters on the ground and reinforcements on their way from interstate.
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill confirmed the deaths and said it was the "worst of news".
The first involved a body found in a paddock at Pinery, near where the blaze started - the second was a person found dead in a car near Hamley Bridge.
The third, unconfirmed, death involved a person who crashed into a tree.
"This has been a devastating few hours for large parts of the state and unfortunately there is some time to go until we have fire fronts under control," Mr Weatherill said.
The Country Fire Service said the blaze continued to burn on a 40km front and had a perimeter of about 211km.
Authorities said the next six to 12 hours would be critical and if weather conditions were favourable fire crews would attempt to place control lines in front of the blaze.
CFS chief officer Greg Nettleton said some of that perimeter would be easy to contain and render safe but other areas would take time to bring under control.
He said fire crews faced a number of days of hard work before the emergency was over.
Strike teams and water bombing aircraft would be brought from interstate on Thursday to help local efforts.
A more detailed assessment of property and stock losses was also expected with initial reports suggesting a number of homes and other buildings and infrastructure had been destroyed or damaged.
That included a large piggery near Wasleys and a water storage tank used to supply Mallala.
"This is a particularly nasty fire. It will run right through the night and into tomorrow," Mr Nettleton said.
"It's going to be a long haul for many of our crews."
Wind gusts of about 80km/h buffeted the fire zone soon after the blaze was sparked ahead of a southwesterly change that swept through the area, pushing the blaze to the northeast.
Many roads were closed with power cut to about 20,000 properties at one stage.
Bureau of Meteorology acting regional director John Nairn said weather conditions on Wednesday would have created unusual and uncontrollable flare-ups.
"It was very ugly conditions for the firefighters," he said.
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