2.35pm BST

We're going to wrap up our live coverage now. Thank you for your comments. Here's a roundup of how things stand:

• Almost 1,500 firefighters are battling scores of bushfires across New South Wales in what has been described as the most serious fire risk to hit the state in more than a decade. Hundreds of homes are feared to have been destroyed. Many firefighters - particularly in the Winmalee area - were told that their homes were destroyed while they were out fighting fires. At least two firefighters were injured, with one man sent to Sydney's Concord Hospital with burns to his face.

• The NSW premier, Barry O'Farrell, said it would be a miracle if there was no loss of life. He said were facing treacherous conditions and that it would be days before all the fires could be extinguished. "This is as bad as it gets," he said.

• There were around 100 fires blazing at midnight on Thursday, with more than 30 described as "out of control"| and four designated as emergencies. One of the emergencies was in the Blue Mountains area that began in Lithgow ran more than 25km and had burned 20,000 hectares of bushland.

• Evacuation centres were set up across the state. In the Blue Mountains students from St Columba's school were kept in the building but St Thomas Aquinas School was evacuated. About 600 children from several schools were bussed to the Springwood Sports Club on Thursday evening. At its peak, 28,000 homes supplied by Endeavour Energy in the Blue Mountains and Southern Highlands regions were without electricity. The fires created traffic chaos around Sydney, with a 20km queue on the Hume Highway for city-bound traffic.