A search for bodies has begun among the charred ruins of more than 100 homes and other buildings destroyed by wildfires in Australia’s island state of Tasmania.

Hundreds of firefighters battled wildfires across south-eastern Australia today as high temperatures and strong winds fanned grass and forest fires into infernos.

At least 30 bush fires broke out around Sydney today, closing roads and railway lines, and threatening hundreds of homes.

Helicopters dumped water and firefighters filled buckets from backyard swimming pools in a desperate battle to save homes from a wildfire that raged through Sydney’s suburbs today.