Scott Morrison has started the new year with a message urging Australians to celebrate living “in the most amazing country on earth” and remember “there’s no better place to raise kids anywhere on the planet”.

The prime minister began 2020 with a message acknowledging a “tough past 12 months” with the terrible bushfires that have claimed the lives of so many Australians”, before moving into the reasons he believed the nation could remain optimistic.

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“There’s also been the drought that continues and of course, the floods earlier last year,” he said, in a video message also featuring Jenny Morrison.

“But one thing we can always celebrate in Australia is that we live in the most amazing country on earth and the wonderful Aussie spirit that means that we will always overcome whatever challenges we face. That we will always look optimistically into our future.

“There’s no better place to raise kids anywhere on the planet, and we’re all so grateful that we can live in this amazing country, and that’s something we can always give thanks for as we enter into their new year.”

Fires stretched from Gippsland in Victoria to Nowra, south of Sydney, on New Year’s Eve, with emergency plans including heading into the ocean in some coastal towns. Southerly winds were predicted to continue whipping up the east coast, with no relief in sight for exhausted fire crews.

At least nine people have been confirmed dead since the start of the NSW bushfires, which have blazed for more than a month, with the entire south coast impacted. On Tuesday afternoon, the NSW fire commissioner reported two people had died in Cobargo and one was missing, feared dead, in Belowra. Cobargo’s historic main street went up in flames earlier on Tuesday. It had been evacuated earlier in the day.

In Victoria, fires scorched through more than 200,000 hectares in east Gippsland, with more than 4,000 people evacuated to the beach in the town of Mallacoota.

Nicole Asher (@Nic_Asher) This is the situation in Mallacoota at the moment. A mother and her kids are sheltering in their boat on the water. People are reporting the sound of gas bottles exploding in town and quite a few homes have been burnt. @abcmelbourne #gippsnews #gippslandfires pic.twitter.com/XhS5SVvgqX

Four people were missing in Victoria late on Tuesday afternoon, and at least seven emergency warnings remained in place for the region.

Earlier on New Year’s Eve Morrison fronted the camera, through social media, to pay tribute to 28-year-old Samuel McPaul, the young soon-to-be father, who died on Monday when his truck flipped in the Green Valley fire in Jingellic, near the NSW-Victoria border.

“It is an unimaginable loss and one felt by the entire country,” Morrison said.

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“I have seen the impact and devastation of these fires first hand, but I have also seen communities pulling together, and caring for each other with a remarkable spirit,” Morrison said.

“This is the Australian way. We have stood up to these terrible disasters before and we have come through the other side. We will rebuild and we will stay strong.”

Labor leader Anthony Albanese said new year was “usually a time of joy” but the recent months had made it “challenging” for many Australians in his own message, which he shot with his dog Toto.

“I hope that the new year brings relief to everyone dealing with the harsh reality of the bushfire crisis,” he said in a social media message.

“I hope it gets easier for our brave firefighters who have been putting themselves in harm’s way for so many months now.

“We think of those who have lost their lives and their loved ones at this extremely difficult time of grief. We think if everyone who has lost their home.”

Morrison said he continued to receive regular updates on the fire fronts, and would continue to provide any resources the Commonwealth was asked for.