About 400 people are currently in the park, mostly in Thredbo, and a Department of Planning, Industry and Environment spokeswoman said they are now in the process of leaving. In Victoria, the Country Fire Authority warned tourists in the Alpine National Park to get out immediately and said no one should be in the Alpine region unless absolutely necessary. Metung CFA Captain Trevor Blundell said a raft of fires had already joined from near Bairnsdale to Mallacoota in Victoria's East Gippsland region. Horror conditions are forecast for Saturday, with temperatures set to range from the high 30s to the low 40s, and a cool change expected later in the day.

Addressing a crowd in Metung, Mr Blundell urged people to leave immediately. "All these fires have joined together, from Bairnsdale through to Mallacoota," he said. "There is a north wind behind it … anyone south of it is not safe. We need to get out and go west of Bairnsdale. We need to get out, I cannot stress that enough. We need to leave this afternoon or early tomorrow morning." In Victoria, the Hume fire complex (which includes the region around Corryong) has already burnt through more than 122,000 hectares, with 21 fires burning on Thursday afternoon. The Gippsland fire complex has now raged over 600,000 hectares, with 24 fires going. The Princes Highway is closed from Orbost to the NSW border.

The CFA has warned major fire fronts could merge in coming days if they continue to burn the way they are. They could also join with fires burning in NSW. CFA Chief Officer Steve Warrington said milder conditions on Thursday should not give anyone a false sense of security, and warned the ability of crews to protect people's lives in some areas would be "very, very limited". "We're expecting temperatures in the 40s on Saturday and some very concerning high winds and of course we've got 50 fires burning across the state, many of them out of control," he said.