"A few things got saved. People put sprinklers on top of their houses and after the fire passed came back and put out the spot fires, which is really dangerous." Local Rachel Mounsey said a whole street and one half of another had been lost near her. “Half of the street has gone in my street. There’s probably eight gone. Stanley Avenue is basically wiped out. A whole street gone," Ms Mounsey said. Justin Brady, whose home was destroyed in the fire, seeks refuge on the water in his canoe at Mallacoota. “The sadness of what has happened is that there were people who are elderly that have lost houses. We are isolated here, where will they go?

“These are places we spend our life too. Bushwalks we all use every day are gone." Temperatures are forecast to hit 41 degrees in Mallacoota on Saturday, before a cool change in the afternoon. Bradyn Taglieri, from Melbourne, has had his holiday plans derailed by the devastating fires. Though he could be stranded in the town for another week, he’s planning on doing what he can to help others leave sooner. He said after a “very long day” on Tuesday taking shelter at the boat ramp, fires are still burning around the town and the power is still out. The local IGA remained open through the night with supplies.

Because of the fire damage to the roads and remaining blazes, Mr Taglieri’s exit plans are unknown, but “some are saying we may be stuck here for at least another week”. “We all had to make masks out of our clothing and wear sunglasses as the smoke was too much for the eyes,” he said. “I’m not overly stressed about (leaving). My only concern is about getting back to work but I’m sure the boss would understand. “Myself and a few others have put our hands up to go out and help clear some of the roads to speed the process up but that’s all we can really do at the moment.” Geoff Belmore lost two houses, while Justin Brady lost one.

Mr Brady is a musician and was able to save his instruments – including a violin, harmonica and mandolin – but his home on Karbeethong Hill did not survive. "I lost everything pretty much," Mr Brady said. "I built the house 25 years ago but only just recently, the last three months, I decided to live there as my base. Previously I had lived here but toured too. The red sky in Mallacoota as the fire hit the town on Tuesday. "Both neighbours' houses are OK. Just my place went.

"I did a big rake up of all the leaves around the houses but it’s a bush block. It’s gone." During the fire he took refuge for hours in a boat near a jetty where 50 people sheltered. "It was apocalyptic," he said. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Mr Belmore meanwhile had only just finished "putting the cutlery in the drawers and making the beds" in a unit on his property that he planned to rent out. He's been holidaying in Mallacoota for 25 years and has lived there for the past four.

It, along with the unit he planned to live in on the same property and a structure that housed his vintage cars and boats, is gone. Another house in the town, which he rents out, was also lost. "I have been working on the units for the last couple of years," Mr Belmore said. "Finally got them finished and then it’s totally gone. "The whole structure has collapsed. I have a 1977 Corvette, a 1964 Holden ute, a 1942 Dodge that I was turning into a hot rod, a beautiful Harley-Davidson, a boat that I loved with a couple of brand new motors on it and now they're molten aluminium." He left Mallacoota on Saturday sensing the fire would be bad and sought refuge in Bowral with his partner. "I am the only one in my street that’s lost their house," he said.

Mr Belmore's cars at his property sit burnt out after the bushfire. "It’s purely because the trees around me, that I had no control over, were there. I’d get a fine if I touched them, they were the responsibility of the council and the parks department." Supplies are being sent by water to Mallacoota via the navy, emergency services and private companies and began arriving on Wednesday. The town was under attack by fires on Tuesday, when 4000 people took shelter on the foreshore. Black smoke enveloped the town in darkness for hours on Tuesday morning.

Sydney woman Mary O'Malley, whose husband grew up in Mallacoota, where they have a property, said they had to boil water to drink and were getting free supplies from the supermarket. She said she'd been told dozens of homes were destroyed. "That's a lot in a town this size," Ms O'Malley said. "After the elation of surviving such a catastrophic event, the reality is hitting people. So many houses lost. "Our block is burnt [but] it’s nothing compared to what others are experiencing."

Mallacoota Road remained closed from Princes Highway through to the township on Wednesday. Co-owner of the Mallacoota IGA supermarket, Steve Jakovljevic, said locals were lined up at his shop at 6.30am on Wednesday to get supplies. He says they have enough food and water for a few days because they stock up ahead of the summer tourist rush. "If they don’t open the road into Mallacoota for three or four days it might be slim pickings," Mr Jakovljevic said. He sheltered in the brick shop with about 30 tourists and his family, including babies and his two daughters, through the blaze. "It was frightening," he said. "Later in the morning when it should have been daylight there was gas bottles going off and that was frightening."