Survivors have said no fire plan would have worked against a blaze of such destruction, particularly the Kinglake fires 65km north-east of Melbourne where 33 people died and dozens more perished in surrounding towns.

Many believe earlier warnings or a policy of mandatory evacuation could have saved lives.

Premier John Brumby conceded the policy of allowing residents to stay and fight needed to be reviewed. He promised the royal commission would have broad powers to investigate all Government policies and the influence of climate change on the weekend's extreme conditions.

''What broke over the state was like a tsunami,'' Mr Brumby said.

''It didn't matter how good people's fire plans were.''

Mr Brumby said further details of the royal commission would be announced later this week.

Among the hundreds of injured were 20 people who had received burns to 30 per cent of their bodies, 10 of whom were in a critical condition yesterday.

Many of the stories that have emerged from the disaster are heartbreaking.

A primary school principal from the Kinglake area had the awful task of comparing her class lists with the children who registered at relief centres.

Not all the children had survived. The number of missing people cannot be easily calculated as survivors are still turning up at relief centres and registering with the Australian Red Cross.

More than 330,000ha burned and 52 fires were listed as still burning throughout the state.

New fires threatened properties south of Wodonga last night while others burned uncontained in Wilson's Promontory and Gippsland's high country.

The largest of the fires from the weekend, at Kinglake and Churchill, were still burning out of control.

The Country Fire Authority has warned that if they are not contained within the coming days while weather conditions are favourable they could again turn deadly when the weather worsens by the week's end.

The authority's operations officer for the Kinglake staging area, Rohan Lake, said that blaze would be a threat for weeks to come.

All of Victoria's fire grounds have been declared crime scenes as police identify victims and work to identify whether arson was involved.

Mr Rudd, who will stay in Melbourne indefinitely as the emergency continues, was horrified at the thought that firebugs could have been responsible.

''What do you say about anyone like that? There are no words to describe it other than mass murder,'' Mr Rudd said.

''This is of a level of horror that few of us anticipated.''

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard moved a condolence motion in Federal Parliament yesterday, saying it was ''a tragedy beyond belief, beyond precedent and beyond words''.Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon would not enter speculation about how high the death toll could reach, saying it was important the forensic examinations were methodical and accurate.

''The speculation doesn't help,'' she said.

''Because what we're speculating about is mums and dads and brothers and sisters.''

At the Whittlesea relief centre evacuees from Kinglake were reuniting with loved ones or waiting for information, posting messages on a board and clogging the mobile phone network with desperate calls.

Families and survivors turned to whatever means they could, including internet forums, to try to contact loved ones.

Grief also turned to anger as Kinglake residents who wanted to revisit their homes were turned away, with at least one clash at a checkpoint on the Whittlesea-Kinglake Road.