The massive bushfires raging across Australia are expected to flare up again as temperatures rise in coming days.
So far, four people have died from the fires, which are feeding off drought-stricken farmland and bush.
Conditions improved on Friday but crews were still battling about 120 blazes across New South Wales and Queensland.
And authorities have warned that a bank of hot air is expected to sweep across the country, escalating the fires.
Temperatures across Western Australia are predicted to hit mid-40Cs at the weekend.
The fires have razed about 300 homes, and burnt through over 1 million hectares of land in NSW.
With little sustained rainfall forecast for the coming months, fire chiefs warn that the fires could burn for weeks and even months.
Queensland authorities said they were expecting new fires to break out next week with higher winds and temperatures. They also predicted the roll in of dry thunderstorms – which could start new fires.
“We’re just expecting more of the same,” Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokesman Kevin Reading told the BBC.
He said crews were planning on fighting the fires until January – seven weeks away – when meaningful downpours had been forecast.
NSW authorities have issued similar messages.
“[It’s] heating up early next week… we’re in for the long haul,” said NSW Rural Fire Services Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers.
In NSW, the worst-hit state, fires have threatened both inland rural areas and several populated coastal towns.
The heavy smell of smoke hits you the second you step out anywhere in Nana Glenn, a small town 600km (370 miles) north of Sydney. It’s like a blanket of haze covering this rural area and the neighbouring towns.
Walking around, I could still feel the heat from the scorched ground. Some tree trunks still smouldering while others were hollowed out with a real risk of falling at any moment.
The aftermath of the catastrophic fires is impossible to escape here.
Some locals who’ve come back to their destroyed properties told us they were trying to deal with the trauma still.
Others whose houses are intact say they’re relieved for now but worried that with expected worsening weather conditions, the danger is not over.
Australia’s largest city, Sydney, and its surrounding areas also endured “catastrophic” fire danger on Tuesday – the first time that the city had come under the highest threat since the danger rating was introduced in 2009.
