Hail, thunderstorms and hundreds of millimetres of rain have hit Australia this week, but bushfires continue to burn.

As Australia swings between weather extremes, Guardian Australia spoke to local fire authorities to ask what effect this has had on the fires, and whether the worst of the season is over.

Has the rain extinguished the bushfires?

The answer is no. But they have helped firefighters control their spread, and given fireys a well-earned break.

Ben Shepherd from the NSW Rural Fire Service told Guardian Australia there had been a “dramatic reduction” in fire activity over the past week.

At least some rain has fallen across every fireground in the state. And this includes some the state’s largest fires – along the south coast, the Gospers Mountain fire north of Sydney, and the multiple fires in the Snowy Valley near Kosciuszko National Park, where separate fires have merged to create a giant cross-border blaze that reaches into Victoria.

“The south coast and up around Sydney and the Hunter had the most rainfall, and we saw some good falls yesterday around the Kosciuszko area,” Shepherd said.

In Victoria, the hard-hit East Gippsland also experienced welcome rain. The town of Mallacoota, where 4,000 people dramatically sheltered on the beach on New Year’s Eve, received 30mm over the past two days.

“We’ve had significant rainfall through the eastern Gippsland in the past 48 hours,” a spokesman for the Country Fire Authority said. “Bairnsdale received more than 75mm. Mount Moornapa received more than 130mm which is a new January record.”

But, this does not mean the fires have been put out.

There were still 87 fires burning in NSW on Tuesday morning – down from the 101 burning on Tuesday last week, but up from the 82 burning on Thursday.

There were 17 fires burning in Victoria on Tuesday, more than were burning last Tuesday.

“It hasn’t necessarily extinguished them completely, but it has temporarily stopped their spread,” Shepherd said.

“They are by no means out. But we have seen a reduction, and it has given some crews a chance to take a break before we see the possibility of fire activity over NSW increasing.”

What impact have the rains had?

Shepherd explained that while rain does not fully extinguish large fires, it allows firefighters to look at “closer containment” for them.

For example, this week’s rain has allowed at least half a dozen fires in NSW to be downgraded from uncontained to contained.

In Victoria, the rain meant that there were no fires on Tuesday higher than advice level.

But while the rain is welcome, firefighters also need the ground to dry before they can take more drastic action – like bulldozing or backburning – to more fully extinguish fires.

“The full impact of rain on those firegrounds and what it will mean for containment will be known over the next 24 to 48 hours,” Shepherd said.

“We still have a lot of work to do over the next few days. There are still a number of burning trees and logs that will need attention by crews. And we need it to dry out before we can introduce dozers or backburns on these fires.”

For many firefighters, the most important gift the rain has given is a break from mental and physical fatigue. Emergency level fires have been burning across through Australia since November, in every state – including Queensland and WA. And many firefighters have been deployed to other states at other parts of the year.

“It has been most welcome,” Shepherd said. “It has seen a dramatic reduction in fire activity across the state and has given local crews a well-earned break – but we are under no illusions it was drought ending or fire-season ending.”

Could the fires get worse?

Yes. And in fact NSW and Victorian firefighters are worried it will happen in days.

“We are likely to see fire conditions once again start to increase towards the end of the week,” Shepherd says. “It is likely we will see fire activity increase over these fire grounds”.

The CFA said there was “absolutely” a risk for fires to flare up again.

“We are wary about tomorrow being a spike day – we have got a higher fire danger tomorrow.”

“It will be severe for the Wimmera district, the south west, northern country, and north central, and extreme for the Mallee.”

In NSW, the RFS said that “by Thursday we will be looking at areas of very high and severe fire danger”.