A bushfire alert has eased in southwest Victoria where residents face a new threat - asbestos.
The fire-ravaged region is littered with dead livestock, fallen trees and powerlines, and on Tuesday came warnings of another hazard.
"The chances that asbestos-containing material will be found in many of the fire-affected buildings are high," WorkSafe spokesman Michael Coffey said.
At least 18 homes, 42 dairy and machinery sheds and hundreds of livestock have been destroyed, but the tally could rise as people re-enter devastated areas.
While recovery efforts get under way, almost 200 firefighters continue to scour 15,000 hectares of burnt land to suppress embers amid fears of flare-ups.
Five alerts remain in place, including for the main farming communities of Terang, Cobden, Penshurst and Camperdown, where fires are contained.
"The community will continue to see smoke for some time, however this is not related to an increase in fire activity," Colac Incident Control Centre's Les Vearing said on Tuesday.
"We have been working closely with the EPA on smoke management planning and they have deployed air monitoring systems so we can keep an eye on conditions."
In cases where asbestos is found, licensed experts will need to remove the material.
On another front, as the fire threat eased, authorities felt the heat over criticism of the state's emergency alert system.
In some cases, residents received alerts hours after they had seen the fire first-hand on Saturday night.
Emergency Services Minister James Merlino said the timing of the fires made it difficult to alert residents.
"Alerts are sent out as soon as information is provided, but gathering that information is so much harder in the dead of night," he told reporters.
"It's the visibility, the fact you at the moment can't have aircraft in the air, it's much harder on the ground to gather that information in the middle of a fire fight in the evening."
He also said it was "despicable" that cash, including charitable donations, were stolen from a Terang cafe as the town was evacuated.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Stephen King said cooler conditions were on the way for the region, but no rain was expected until Saturday.
Easterly winds would peak up to 50km/h on Wednesday which may affect the fires, he added.
The Insurance Council of Australia said it was "too soon" to estimate the total damage bill for the Victorian fires.
Agriculture Victoria is yet to tally the animal death count, which is likely to run into the thousands.
Lightning strikes on Saturday were likely responsible for the blazes, but police are investigating the exact cause.
Victoria has gone for more than 45 days without significant rain.
