Bushfires on one side, a festival on the other. Falls organisers faced a very hard decision less than 48 hours before their show was supposed to start.

On Christmas Day a fire burning near the festival's home in Lorne jumped containment lines and destroyed more than 100 homes.

The town of Lorne was evacuated and Falls Festival, due to start on the 28th of December, was on stand-by.

At midday on Boxing Day emergency services met with Falls organisers, including co-producer Jess Decrou.

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Whatsapp Smoke seen over Lorne, Victoria, during bushfires along the Great Ocean Road on Boxing Day, 2015.

"They gave us a very candid outline of what was going on in the local area and (said) around New Year's Eve there was going to be another period of hot weather and they were concerned about where the festival site was and that we should consider whether or not it was appropriate to hold the Falls Festival.

"Certainly from their end it was cancellation."

There was some wiggle room though and the Falls team asked if authorities would let them move the festival if they found a new site.

The answer was yes.

"The only way we could have relocated in such a short period of time was to have the support of all of those stakeholders and they were amazing," Jess says.

The meeting ended at 1pm with Falls on the hunt for a new venue. At 3:30pm Jess's co-producer, Paul Piticco, asked what wineries were nearby.

"We realised that Mount Duneed Estate was 15 minutes from the council chambers we were sitting in so we just jumped in a car and turned up on their doorstep and asked if it was OK if we hold the festival here."

Mount Duneed agreed. It's the site of A Day On The Green events so they're used to musicians dropping by.

"I think we'd confirmed this venue at 5:30pm on Boxing Day and I think we released a press release around 6:30pm," Jess recalls.

"It was very fast and we had trucks turning up at the front gates of Mount Duneed Estates at around 7pm."

But the crew had been building the Lorne site for six weeks. The festival's permanent infrastructure was there too; toilets, showers, fencing and stage.

"We had to pull down what we could, we had to find a new stage," Jess says.

"The biggest issues we had to consider were could we find a stage, on Boxing Day, that was going to be adequate to operate and also the toilet and shower amenities, they were sort of our two main challenges after we found the appropriate space."

A stage was found and the move was on. As well as the festival's crew, many of whom lived around Lorne and were affected by the fires, a bunch of volunteers came out of nowhere to help build the new site.

"We were just so incredibly lucky, we had trades-people who rocked up on our doorstep saying we heard you guys were in trouble what can we do to help," Jess says.

"It's been an incredibly overwhelming experience and it's a real testament to everyone getting together.

It's a very Australian experience, it's quite amazing"

On Sunday morning there was next to nothing at the Mount Duneed site, by Sunday night the festival had been built. It's an incredible feat, marred by four people on the Falls Facebook page complaining the festival had run out of ice to keep their drinks cold.

"I think in the scheme of things it's not too bad," Jess says, adding trucks of ice have now arrived.

As far as she's aware, that seems to have been the only concern.

"The Falls patrons have been so patient and so supportive."

"The support we were getting through the Facebook and other social medias makes such a huge difference when you've got a battle and a mammoth task ahead of you."

The only part of the festival affected by the move was the festivals opening time, pushed back by three hours on Monday. Everything else is the same, even the set-times.

"We've been able to keep the full program, the Village, Rancho Relaxo, all our food stalls and our market stalls and our seconds grand theatre. I don't think we're missing anything from the Lorne site. " Jess says.

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Whatsapp 16,500 fans are expected at the new Falls site in Victoria.

It wasn't easy for Jess and the team to leave the site at Lorne though.

"While it's been an incredible effort for the whole team to pull this off, it really is monumental, our thoughts are very much with what's going on back home.

"There's a lot of people who are distressed and they're going to have a long summer ahead of them and we're doing everything we can raise awareness and money."

An extra 1,200 tickets were released for New Year's Eve at the new site to raise money for the Red Cross' Bushfire appeal. These were $100 each and have already sold out, raising $120,000 for people affected by the Victorian fires.

"“Many hands have ensured the vibrant Falls Festival, an iconic event on the state's music calendar, has been able to go ahead," Victoria's Emergency Management Commissioner, Craig Lapsley, said.

"Fundraising from the event will help support the communities of Wye River and Separation Creek, welcome additional support of those communities at this time.”