Fires are also burning in Victoria and Tasmania, where a firefighter tackling a blaze on the Tasman peninsula was found dead on Sunday.

BBC: News - Australia bushfire destroys homes and damages observatory

Police said a convoy had delivered equipment and resources to the Tasman Peninsula - cut off by fire for several days - on Sunday.

BBC: Australia PM Gillard visits fire-hit Tasmania

The main road to the Tasman Peninsula, south-east of Hobart, has been cut off, stranding thousands of people, many of them tourists in the historic site of Port Arthur.

BBC: Australia bushfires: Thousands stranded in Tasmania