Key Points
- About 1,000 firefighters are battling the blaze and investigators are yet to determine the cause.
- At least one home has been destroyed. More structures are likely to have been lost, a firefighting chief said.
- Victoria's emergency services minister warned the fight against the bushfire was not over.
At least one home has been destroyed and more are expected to be lost as firefighters face days of battling a massive blaze in western Victoria.
Tens of thousands of residents from communities near Ballarat were told to "leave immediately" as the bushfire, which began at Bayindeen, accelerated and ultimately ripped through more than 11,000 hectares as of Friday.
About 1,000 firefighters, hundreds of trucks and almost 60 aircraft - including four large air tankers - have been battling the blaze, with investigators yet to determine the cause.
Smoke from a bushfire near the town of Bayindeen in Ararat, Victoria. Source: AAP / VicEmergency
"I also expect there to be significant outbuildings, fence losses and (there are) likely to be stock losses as well," he told reporters.
Impact assessment teams started to assess the scale of the fire's destruction on Friday.
A wind change late on Thursday had the bushfire shift direction from southeasterly to northeasterly.
Crews were focused on the under-threat communities of Elmhurst, Amphitheatre and surrounds on Friday, and expected some milder conditions ahead of another potential "fire spike day" on Wednesday.
Winds reached 69km/h on Friday morning but were expected to be about 30km/h for the rest of the day.
"It will take some time to contain the fires - it will be a lot easier in the open grassland and farmland where we will use dozers and graders to create containment lines," Heffernan said.
"In the bushland areas, that will be a little bit more complicated.
"I do anticipate we'll have some solid containment leading into Wednesday."
More than 25,000 homes were sent emergency alerts through voice or text messages on Thursday and about 5500 more went out on Friday morning.
Smoke from a bushfire near the town of Beaufort. Source: AAP / Beaufort Park Cafe
Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes warned the fight against the bushfire was not over.
"I can't underestimate - this is a massive fire, it moved quickly, it grew fast, and that's why we have more than 175 trucks (and) 1000 personnel (on site)," Symes told reporters.
Symes said the 175 trucks were in addition to local fire crews' vehicles.
Relief centres were set up at Ararat, Maryborough and Wendouree - the latter, attracting 200 registrations.
Emergency warnings, a watch and act and advice alert remained in place on Friday for several communities north of Beaufort as the bushfire headed towards the Elmhurst and Amphitheatre region.
