Normal parliamentary business was suspended so federal MPs and Senators could send their condolences to victims of the firestorm.

Some MPs had spent an ''agonising time'' over the weekend trying to contact families and friends who lived in areas razed by the bushfires, while others had watched the tragedy unfold from afar. But all were united in mourning the loss of life and praising the efforts of emergency crews who faced ''one of the darkest days in Australia's peacetime history'', Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said.

''A tragedy beyond belief, beyond precedent and really beyond words,'' she said.

As Ms Gillard spoke about the devastation caused in her home state and advised the country to brace for more fatalities, she struggled to retain her composure.

It was also the case for Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull when he talked about encounters with survivors during a visit to Whittlesea.

''Sitting quietly against the wall, there were two grandparents. Their faces racked with a quiet anguish. Their youngest child, their son, lives in Kinglake with his own family. They have not been able to find him,'' Mr Turnbull said. He visited the area yesterday with Liberal Member for McEwen Fran Bailey whose own home was in a fire-affected zone.

Liberal frontbencher Sharman Stone said, ''Fran Bailey has some clothes, some family photos in her car. She's travelling from fire location to fire location, emergency centre, one to another.

''She didn't go home last night. Her home is in a vulnerable place and she's prepared to find her ... home gone when she returns.''

Government Senate Leader Senator Chris Evans said the condolence motion was inadequate in dealing with the scale of the shocking tragedy.

But the adjournment of Parliament was a mark of respect for those who had lost their lives, those who were injured and those who were waiting anxiously for news about their families and friends.