Residents have described their terror at having to leave their homes as a fast-moving bushfire threatened the township of Teewah, north of Noosa, overnight.

Key points: Firefighters had the fire under control by 2.30am Wednesday after backburning

Firefighters had the fire under control by 2.30am Wednesday after backburning Spot fires are still burning to the north-west of Teewah village

Spot fires are still burning to the north-west of Teewah village No properties have been damaged

A "leave now" warning was issued around 9:30pm, as the bushfire on the eastern side of the Noosa River moved towards the community.

Firefighters carried out backburning operations to strengthen fire breaks to protect the town, and the blaze was brought under control about 2:30am.

Residents have now been allowed to return to their properties.

Ellen Novack fled her home but said her mother refused to leave.

"It was more terror because my Mum was really calm about the whole situation but she wasn't leaving. So it was more leaving my Mum who might, in my mind, could be burnt.

"I've never really had to evacuate before so it's a new experience, so yeah I think I went straight to panic."

Heather McFarlane was also evacuated on Tuesday afternoon and spent the night waiting on the beach, fearing for her home.

When Ms McFarlane returned her house was thankfully in one piece. ( ABC News: Tara Cassidy )

She said while residents and holiday makers were confident in their rural firefighters, watching the wall of flames creep closer had everyone on edge.

"We spread the word and about 9:00pm we got word we had to go, we were prepared with everything in our vehicles and spent most of the night on the beach," she said.

"I think people's safety was their main concern, we just chat amongst ourselves to keep spirits up, some people had a bit of fear but we knew there was plenty of fire crews here who have fought fires here before, so we were confident in them.

"The fire was just a raging pink fire, it was pretty scary … quite wild looking.

"There was just a lot of people standing around with the fire in the distance."

Ms McFarlane said residents were allowed to get back to their home around 3:00am, but they are remaining alert in case conditions worsen again.

The bushfire has now been downgraded to "advice" level. ( Supplied: Iain Kippen )

Louise Staley who owns a holiday home at Teewah said she initially considered staying to defend her home, but decided to evacuate after she saw the fire coming closer.

"I just hosed the house down and locked up. I didn't take too much with us, it's our holiday house and I thought it's best just to get the dogs out and get to safety really."

Kelly Stjernqvist said the flames could be seen as far away as Noosa Main Beach.

"[I] could see a lot of flames from probably the spit to up at Teewah so that was very concerning."

'Not out of danger yet'

Noosa Council said some spot fires were still burning to the north-west of Teewah Village on Wednesday morning and a helicopter would soon assess the area.

Fire conditions are expected to worsen in the coming days and increase to severe by Friday, according to the weather bureau.

Spot fires are continuing to burn around Teewah. ( ABC News )

Frank Pardon, a Noosa Shire Councillor and rural firefighter, was involved in fighting the blaze.

"We lit up right around Teewah, backburned into it, and pretty much knocked it out," he said.

"Now we're not out of danger yet, we've pretty much got this fire still running along the beach south of us and we'll either backburn it or defend the southern end of Teewah because there's houses along that esplanade there."

Mr Pardon said the fire came within 150 metres of the Teewah township.

"It was horrendous … the heights of the flames, you're talking way above tree tops, 20, 30 metres in the air, I've never seen anything like it.

Plumes of smoke from fires still burning near Teewah. ( ABC News: Tara Cassidy )

"The police came up and I'd say evacuated probably about 30 homes … and they took them down on the beach where they were safe, so they waited there until they were allowed to return at about 2:00am.

"If we hadn't of backburned … I don't think the village would've been here. The intensity of that fire was extremely big."

He said the roar of the fire sounded like a freight train.

"The embers were blasting along the beach, it looked like Peregian all over again."

Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Operations Officer Andrew Marnie said 60 firefighters were at the scene last night.

A rural firefighter said the flames were up to 30 metres high. ( Supplied: Kelly Stjernqvist )

"The fire itself, which was coming up north past Teewah, is now 300 to 500 metres north of the town and has run into that area that burnt earlier this year."

He said it wasn't clear where the fire started.

"There was a permit burn on St Johns Road yesterday, we will have fire investigators in later to determine how it started but we don't know whether the two are related."