Firefighters in New South Wales are taking advantage of cooler conditions to undertake backburning operations, with hotter and windier conditions expected next week.

Fire conditions eased again over the weekend in northern NSW, where residents had been told it was too late to leave after a bushfire jumped a highway.

An emergency warning had been issued for the bushfire near the town of Drake on Saturday afternoon as it headed straight for homes in the Rover Park and Red Rock areas.

A change in wind lowered the fire’s threat by the evening, prompting the Rural Fire Service to downgrade its warning to an advice level.

Another out-of-control fire at Glen Innes Severn was also downgraded from an emergency warning level to watch-and-act, although the RFS continued to warn of spot fires ahead of the main fire.

Residents of the Wytaliba area had been told to seek shelter as the fire approached, and those in the Newton Boyd and Wytaliba areas were told to be aware of embers.

Overall, the number of out-of-control fires fell from 14 uncontained bushfires at midday on Friday to two late Saturday afternoon, with firefighters making the most of favourable weather conditions.

Quick Guide Climate change and bushfires Show Does climate change cause bushfires? The link between rising greenhouse gas emissions and increased bushfire risk is complex but, according to major science agencies, clear. Climate change does not create bushfires, but it can and does make them worse. A number of factors contribute to bushfire risk, including temperature, fuel load, dryness, wind speed and humidity. What is the evidence on rising temperatures? The Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO say Australia has warmed by 1C since 1910 and temperatures will increase in the future. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says it is extremely likely increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases since the mid-20th century is the main reason it is getting hotter. The Bushfire and Natural Hazards research centre says the variability of normal events sits on top of that. Warmer weather increases the number of days each year on which there is high or extreme bushfire risk. What other effects do carbon emissions have? Dry fuel load - the amount of forest and scrub available to burn - has been linked to rising emissions. Under the right conditions, carbon dioxide acts as a kind of fertiliser that increases plant growth. So is climate change making everything dryer? Dryness is more complicated. Complex computer models have not found a consistent climate change signal linked to rising CO2 in the decline in rain that has produced the current eastern Australian drought. But higher temperatures accelerate evaporation. They also extend the growing season for vegetation in many regions, leading to greater transpiration (the process by which water is drawn from the soil and evaporated from plant leaves and flowers). The result is that soils, vegetation and the air may be drier than they would have been with the same amount of rainfall in the past. What do recent weather patterns show? The year coming into the 2019-20 summer has been unusually warm and dry for large parts of Australia. Above average temperatures now occur most years and 2019 has been the fifth driest start to the year on record, and the driest since 1970. Is arson a factor in this year's extreme bushfires? Not a significant one. Two pieces of disinformation, that an “arson emergency”, rather than climate change, is behind the bushfires, and that “greenies” are preventing firefighters from reducing fuel loads in the Australian bush have spread across social media. They have found their way into major news outlets, the mouths of government MPs, and across the globe to Donald Trump Jr and prominent right-wing conspiracy theorists. NSW’s Rural Fire Service has said the major cause of ignition during the crisis has been dry lightning. Victoria police say they do not believe arson had a role in any of the destructive fires this summer. The RFS has also contradicted claims that environmentalists have been holding up hazard reduction work. Photograph: Regi Varghese/AAP

The RFS said firefighters also took advantage of cooler conditions to undertake backburning around the state, with warmer and windier conditions expected again next week.

The federal government has activated the disaster recovery allowance in Armidale, Bellingen, Clarence Valley, Glen Innes, Inverell, Tenterfield, Uralla and Walcha in NSW.

The allowance provides an additional support payment for up to 13 weeks to those who have lost income as a result of the bushfires. It is equivalent to the maximum rate of the Newstart allowance.

Meanwhile, conditions have eased for firefighters battling Queensland’s bushfires but the fire danger was set to increase in coming days.

On Sunday firefighters continued to battle about 50 bushfires in tinderbox conditions across Queensland.

Crews from Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and New Zealand were lending a hand to fight blazes that have razed homes, businesses and an estimated 55,000 hectares of land.

But the relief brought on by eased weather conditions was not expected to last as forecasts showed the fire danger was set to increase in coming days.

Moist winds could continue to cool the south-east of the state on Sunday.

The most serious fires across the state, near Rockhampton, Monduran, Peregian on the Sunshine Coast and at Applethorpe, were sitting at an advice level warning.

Of concern to authorities was the Sarabah fire in the Gold Coast hinterland, because it was the biggest.

However, the fire danger remained high ahead of deteriorating firefighting conditions forecast to arrive early next week, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

“It’s going to be very warm through southern Queensland on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday,” meteorologist Sam Campbell said late on Saturday. “Unfortunately, the hot dry weather is set to continue.”

The premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, visited burned-out properties in the Gold Coast hinterland community of Beachmont on Sunday.

“Some people here have lost their worldly possessions but they haven’t lost their lives,” she said. “They’ll be able to rebuild, and we’ll help them rebuild.”

She asked Queenslanders to give generously to a bushfire appeal to support those who lost everything.

Property owner Stuart Skeen (left) walks with prime minister Scott Morrison through his burnt-out property at Binna Burra in the Gold Coast hinterland. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

The 10-day emergency has seen some 1,200 bushfires burning across the state, with more than 600 community warnings issued in the past two weeks.

Officials have warned some fires could burn for months because the ground was bone-dry and there was no significant rain in sight.

Fires continued to burn in the Lamington national Park, near Binna Burra, in Sarabah and Lower Beechmont.

The Ballandean blaze, south of Stanthorpe, continued to burn within containment lines and on Sunday morning there was no threat to property.