“Please do not stay in the area unless you absolutely have to,” she said at a briefing on Friday. “When you have so many fires still releasing embers, we know that the wind conditions can make it another terrible day.”

Rob Rogers, the deputy fire commissioner for New South Wales, was more blunt. He said there would be no help for anyone who ignored the warnings to leave.

“We’ve been very honest about the risk, but if people choose to stay, that’s on them,” he said. “Do not expect there to be a fire truck when you ring.”

He also warned people who decided to stay not to change their minds at the last minute and get on the road. Such moves have been fatal, he said. “Cars are not safe places to be.”

In South Australia, fire chief Mark Jones said he was disappointed that many people had not heeded official warnings to leave Kangaroo Island, off the coast of the state, where an uncontrolled blaze swept through about 35,000 acres of national park with no end in sight.

“It may be too late for them,” he said on Friday. “We urge them to seek safety.”

Rescue by sea