Five missing, two dead as nation burns
By AAP17:55
Fire crews battling hundreds of blazes are facing another tough day across Australia as burnt out communities begin counting their losses.
Five people are missing, two more are dead and thousands are cut off in remote communities as out-of-control bushfires savage NSW and Victoria.
NSW Fire Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons says it's "one of the worst, if not the worst fire seasons" his state has faced.
"We are absolutely stretched ... we have fires burning from the Queensland border all the way down to the Victorian border across the Great Dividing Range," he said.
His dire warning comes as an overnight southerly wind change brings "tricky" conditions to the north of the state today.
"It will be cooler but they're strong and gusty south to southwesterly winds that will lead to a change in the direction the fires are moving," meteorologist Dean Narramore told AAP.
"It'll expand the fire area, so you're going to have new challenges, new problems and new areas impacted.
"They're going to cause tricky fire conditions, particularly for those really large fires around Sydney."
Mr Narramore said some blazes are so large, firefighters are likely to be battling different weather conditions in the eastern and western perimeters of the fires.
"It's just unbelievable," he said.