Hundreds of homes are feared to have been destroyed by intense wildfires in South Eastern Australia.
Firefighters say the skies across Sydney have been darkened with smoke and ash in ferocious conditions.
Five major blazes are burning across the state of New South Wales, fanned by high, erratic winds in unseasonably warm 34C weather.
An inferno in the Blue Mountains area west of Sydney has plunged the city into an eerie, ash-flecked darkness.
Fire chiefs say "It will take some days to see the end of these fires and if we get through that without the loss of life, we should thank God for miracles."
In total, 95 fires are being tackled across the state with 34 out of control.
NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said it had been a "very difficult and dangerous day" of "extraordinary fire behaviour", with blazes travelling vast distances due to the winds.
"This is as bad as it gets, you're talking destructive, damaging, and people losing everything they own," he told reporters, adding that it could be weeks before the fires are fully under control.
No fatalities have been reported so far, and one firefighter has been injured.
"We will be very lucky if we haven't lost at least a couple of hundred homes. The real fear, of course, is that there would be someone in them."
