HEALESVILLE, AUSTRALIA - FIREFIGHTERS battled Wednesday to save Australian communities threatened by wildfires that have killed 181 people, as a grim search for bodies was expected to push the toll much higher.

Victoria state Premier John Brumby said the final toll would exceed 200 as emergency crews sifted through the charred wreckage of homes and cars, but media reports say police fear more than 300 people may have died.

In the town of Marysville, flattened by the flames at the weekend, as many as 100 of its 500 or so residents are now believed to have been killed, The Australian newspaper said - a toll far higher than first reports suggested.

'We had people banging on the sides of our tanker begging us to go back to houses where they knew there were people trapped, but we couldn't because if we had we'd all be dead too,' he said.

'There were children running down the streets with flames behind them. It was hell.' The fire crew joined residents who had made it to a town park, where they 'bunkered down... while all around us we had the screaming noise of gas cylinders exploding in homes.' Cooler weather on Wednesday brought some relief to 3,000 exhausted firefighters struggling to contain some 23 fires still burning, but strong winds were a danger, authorities said.

'The winds have moderated overnight and as a consequence fire activity has died somewhat,' said Country Fire Authority spokesman Mark Glover.

'But it's still enough to ensure that we notify people that there is a threat alert, not an immediate threat, but a threat alert anyway.' Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the fires had left 500 people injured, nearly 1,000 homes destroyed and 365,000 hectares (902,000 acres) burnt.

More than 5,000 people have been left homeless, many seeking shelter in community halls, schools and churches.

'This was truly an inland tsunami,' Russell Hildebrandt, a chaplain at the Healesville relief centre near Marysville, told AFP.

'It's just come in, swept through everything in its path and killed hundreds of people who were caught completely unawares.' Some of the fires are believed to have been started deliberately and investigators have begun the country's largest ever arson probe.

Mr Rudd vowed to track down anyone believed responsible, describing arson as 'murder on a grand scale.' Police have cordoned off whole towns as crime scenes, even as desperate survivors try to return to their homes to inspect the damage.

'Road by road, house by house, we are working our way through,' Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon said.

'We believe the toll will rise. It's a very sad thing for all of us in our community.' Australia's newspapers were filled with pictures of the dead and missing - poignant images taken from snapshots of the victims' lives, showing them celebrating weddings, clowning around in festive paper hats and smiling in class photographs.

One 72-year-old woman who survived the Marysville blaze told of how she made the difficult decision to leave her stubborn husband of 49 years sitting on the veranda when he refused to flee their home as the fire roared towards them.

'I talked and talked to him, I begged him to go, he put on his shoes but he wouldn't leave,' she told The Australian.

'So in the end I said, 'I'm leaving'. The last I saw of him was sitting there just waiting.' Offers of help have poured in from around the world with leaders including US President Barack Obama telephoning Mr Rudd to offer condolences and support. -AFP