Victorians are reeling from "hurricane-like" and "horrifying" bushfires which have claimed the life of a man in East Gippsland.
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Mick Roberts had not made contact with family for more than 24 hours and on Wednesday his niece Leah Parson confirmed he had been found dead at his Buchan home.
"He's not missing anymore," Ms Parsons wrote on the East Gippsland fire season 2019-2020 Facebook page.
"His body has been found in his house..very sad day for us to srart (sic) the year but we're a bloody tight family and we will never forget our mate and my beautiful Uncle Mick."
Victoria Police said a person had been found dead in Buchan, but the cause of his death has not yet been confirmed.
Earlier on Wednesday Premier Daniel Andrews said four people were still missing, but would not say what communities in East Gippsland the people belonged to.
"Everything is being done to try and establish the whereabouts of these people," he told reporters at the Bairnsdale incident control centre.
Mr Andrews lamented reports of Mr Roberts' death.
"It is of course the worst of all news, the notion that someone has lost their life," he told ABC Gippsland.
After spending more than a day on emergency alert, the bushfire threat in East Gippsland and at Corryong in northeast Victoria was downgraded to watch and acts.
More than 500,000 hectares have been burnt, after three fires in East Gippsland combined on Tuesday.
The blaze at Corryong has burnt at least 109,000 hectares.
The total area burnt has exceeded that of the Black Saturday bushfires of February 2009.
There were more than 40 fires still burning across Victoria at 9:30pm on Wednesday with 11 at the watch and act level.
The risk of flare-ups elsewhere remains. Conditions are expected to worsen on Saturday and dry lightning has continued to spark new fires.
Mr Andrews spent Wednesday in East Gippsland where he said emotions were running high.
"I spoke with people today and they just said it was hurricane-like, horrifying, terrifying, the most frightening experience of their life."
"The next few days are going to be a lot of hard work and the next few months will be a very long and steady process of helping these communities to rebuild," the premier said.
So far, confirmed property losses are 24 structures at Buchan, 19 at Sarsfield, 10 at Mallacoota and up to 15 at Cudgewa.
Power has been cut to more than 7000 properties at East Gippsland and more than 1800 in the northeast.
AusNet said it could take days to restore power because it was unsafe to attend and assess the extent of damage.
Phones remain cut across much of the region and people are struggling to communicate with loved ones and get the latest information on the fire risk.
A boil water notice was put in place for Mallacoota, an isolated coastal holiday town near the NSW border, from Tuesday to reduce public health risks.
A NSW police boat brought in water to Mallacoota on Tuesday and a Victoria water police boat is taking 1.6 tonnes of water on Wednesday.
A barge from Melbourne with two weeks' supply of food, water and fuel is also making its way to the town.
After a request from the premier on Tuesday, military personnel have begun helping with the relief effort, including undertaking rapid damage assessments.
Aircraft including Black Hawk helicopters are expected to land in the east of the state on Wednesday with other aircraft and naval vessels due in coming days to move people out of the area.
Naval vessels including HMAS Choules left Sydney bound for the East Gippsland coast on Tuesday evening and training vessel MV Sycamore has also been deployed.
Australian Associated Press
