Hundreds of firefighters are battling blazes across Victoria, including fires that have been threatening lives and property in the state's east and centre.

Key points: A fire in central Victoria is threatening Hepburn and the north of Hepburn Springs

A fire in central Victoria is threatening Hepburn and the north of Hepburn Springs On the Bass Coast, an emergency warning was issued for a fire at Glen Forbes, near Grantville

On the Bass Coast, an emergency warning was issued for a fire at Glen Forbes, near Grantville A fire in East Gippsland has burnt more than 15,000 hectares of bush

On Sunday, authorities issued numerous emergency alerts for fires burning near the resort town of Hepburn Springs, north-east of Ballarat, and various parts of Gippsland.

As of 9:30pm, all but one of the warnings had been downgraded to watch and act status.

An emergency warning remained in place for Maiden Town and Walhalla, near Mt Baw Baw in Gippsland's alpine wilderness.

On Sunday night, a fire was moving westerly towards Walhalla and a VicEmergency warning said it had "the potential to threaten homes and lives".

"Weather conditions have changed and spotting is occurring in and around Walhalla," the warning said.

In a video posted to Facebook, Baw Baw Shire councillor Michael Leaney said it was a "bizarre scene" in Maiden Town.

"The fire is now on the ridge," Cr Leaney said.

"We've seen the flames coming up over Maiden Town.

"It is absolutely pouring with rain here at the moment. Nobody is really sure what is going because the wind is going in all different directions."

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Victoria's Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said 49 new grass, scrub and bushfires had broken out in Sunday's hot conditions.

"We knew today was going to be a tough day for us as a state ... and that's the way it's panning out at the moment," he said this afternoon.

Twenty-three incident control centres were operating in eight regions across the state, staffed by more than 500 people, he said.

"On the ground, literally there are hundreds and hundreds of firefighters working on fires that have been going for, in some cases, the last two or three weeks," Commissioner Crisp said.

There were also 69 firefighting aircraft being used to battle the various blazes.

There is a total fire ban across the state.

A bushfire continues to burn around the Grantville Nature Reserve, where firefighters are planning for a wind change. ( Facebook: Kernot-Grantville Fire Brigade )

'You could smell the smoke' in Hepburn

An emergency warning was in place for Hepburn Springs for much of the day, but was downgraded to watch and act status just before 6:00pm.

Footage captured by one resident showed a "wall of fire" engulfing trees near the town's hotel last night.

Ben Joyce, whose home in Hepburn Springs backs onto the fire, said he did not wait for official warnings to evacuate after he was attending a show in the town and came out to see fire on the horizon.

"We came out the front of the hotel [and] saw a significant fire approaching Hepburn," he said.

"Facing the gully, we could really just see a wall of fire, the tops of the trees were just catching alight and it was moving quite quickly.

"[It was] pretty scary, you could smell the smoke. Pretty intense."

He said he evacuated his grandparents from a local nursing home this morning.

"There are quite a few people who are very nervous around there, waiting to be collected," he said.

"The staff down there were really organised but obviously for the residents, who are quite elderly, it's quite stressful for them having to shift all of a sudden."

A man waits with his dog at an evacuation centre set up for people from Hepburn. ( ABC News )

By 4:00pm, the fire had burnt out about 28 hectares.

"It is looking somewhat more positive than it was first thing this morning, but again we are not becoming complacent about this fire as we know that there is still plenty of heat in the day," Commissioner Crisp said this afternoon.

He said winds were expected to pick up in the evening, which could make conditions difficult for firefighters.

Dozens of fire trucks and multiple aircraft are battling the blaze, which flared up yesterday evening after it was started by lightning on Wednesday.

An evacuation centre has been set up in Daylesford and authorities doorknocked 70 homes this morning.

A community meeting is scheduled for 6:00pm.

A number of roads were closed, and authorities warned visitors to stay away from the area, which is a popular tourism destination.

Firefighters are tackling the scrub fire near Hepburn. ( Supplied: Matthew Murdoch )

'Ashes all over the house' of AFL legend

The Hepburn fire started near the property of former AFL player and coach Robert Walls this week.

He said it was extinguished, but flared up again last night with strong winds.

"At about 6:00pm, it just took off," he said.

"There was a bit of northerly wind, and it just swept through there down through the gorge. It circled around the house.

"They had 42 fire trucks — they came from everywhere. The CFA guys were marvellous but it went on all night.

"It then came back towards us. There were trees on fire everywhere and ashes all over the house."

He chose to stay and defend his property, managing just an hour's sleep.

Robin and Georgiana Archer, who are at the evacuation centre, said the fire was about 500 metres from their property last night.

The couple have been evacuated a number of times before during previous fires.

"We've done it before, we just hope we can get back tonight, that's all," Mr Archer said.

"We can't do much more [to prepare] than what we've done to our house — if it goes, it goes."

The bushfire burns near Hepburn, in central Victoria. ( Facebook: Campbell's Creek Fire Brigade )

"I guess it's pretty real this time around that it is that close, but there's not a lot of wind, so I hope that the lack of wind is going to mean everyone is safe," Ms Archer said.

"But it's always daunting, the idea of losing your house."

Patricia Doyle said she could see the fire from her home last night and she got a call about 9:30am to leave.

"Hopefully it'll be fine, and this is a nice, safe place to be," she said.

"I haven't protected [my property] much because I wouldn't be able to do it myself, so the best idea for me is to leave."

Grantville fire still 'under pressure'

Sorry, this video has expired Firefighters call in aerial assistance for fire near Grantville

Earlier on Sunday, incident controller Ivan Smith said the Grantville fire was "holding its own" but firefighters had built a solid contingency plan ahead of a predicted wind change this evening.

"We're fairly nervous about it, we had predicted some surge in the wind conditions from 11:00am, and I'm touching wood here that it didn't eventuate," he said.

"Our big concern is that we get a surge in the north-westerly [wind] this afternoon that'll push it over our control lines out into the open country and the unburnt area of the park.

"But we're doing all of the pre-work we can do, we're trying to take as much guesswork out of this as possible."

For the past two days, emergency warnings have been issued for the same fire, before being downgraded in the evening.

Aerial firefighters tackle a blaze threatening properties at Glen Forbes on Saturday. ( ABC News: James Oaten )

Lightning sparks new fire in Gippsland

The fire near Gillingall, in East Gippsland, has been burning since January 16 and has crossed containment lines south of the town.

It was also spotting over the Murrindal River as it travelled in a south-easterly direction, about 10 kilometres north of the town of Timbarra.

Commissioner Crisp said the fire had burned through about 15,500 hectares of bush.

"There's an emergency warning in place at the moment, and it's for areas south of the fire, because we've had another fire — and it looks like it's been started from lightning — on Hunter Lane, south of Gillingall," he said.

The warning, issued just after 4:00pm, warned "residents of areas between W Tree and Murrindal could be impacted anytime within the next two hours".

"Leaving now is the safest option, before conditions become too dangerous," it said.

A separate emergency warning, issued about an hour later, warned two fires west of Butchers Ridge were also posing a threat.

A number of the fires across the state were caused by lightning strikes earlier this week.

CFA state agency commander Garry Cook asked anyone who saw smouldering trees as a result of a lightning strike to contact the CFA.

"If people are in the areas where lightning has gone through, it doesn't hurt to go out and check in their immediate community area for lightning that might be in trees," he said.

"Sometimes these things will smoulder for days before they actually hit the ground and cause fires to run, so we're really working with the community to actually help us get onto these fires before they take off."