Victoria bushfires LIVE: Longwood fire destroys homes in Ruffy; warnings for towns including Alexandra, Yea, Marysville and Harcourt; widespread power outages amid heatwave temperatures

Laying back in the shade on a reclining camp chair with a cold drink and their beloved horses nearby, Mark and Julie King almost seem comfortable.

But the massive gumtrees towering above them won’t stop swaying, and the constant noise of the wind is a terrifying reminder of why they left their Maindample property for the refuge of the Mansfield Showgrounds.

“We came in last night because today was supposed to be the worst day,” Julie King said.

“We hope we’re here for nothing but, with that wind … wow.

“It’s pretty hard to sit here and feel that wind and not worry.”

The Kings are among 60 people scattered among the sheds and shaded areas of the showgrounds on the outskirts of Mansfield, but they are vastly outnumbered by the animals that have brought the group together.

There are about 120 animals taking refuge at the showgrounds, including a few dozen horses, a handful of small ponies, a couple of troublesome donkeys who won’t stop knocking over communal water buckets, some chooks and plenty of dogs.

While the showgrounds are not an official fire refuge centre, Gwen Evans from the Mansfield Agricultural & Pastoral ​Society said her committee felt compelled to offer a safe place for people wanting to protect their beloved animals, including some who might otherwise have stayed on properties and put themselves in grave danger.

“It’s frayed nerves,” Evans said. “We’ve got limited facilities, but at least you can have animals.

“There are a lot of people who have no family around here, and the animals are their family.”

Read the full story here.

Victoria’s fire grounds will be at their most dangerous in the coming hours, as a cool change provides relief from sweltering temperatures but stirs up erratic fire activity.

The wind, shifting to the south-west, will blow over the Longwood fire ground in the next hour or two, before passing over the Walwa blaze in the state’s north-west between about midnight and 3am on Saturday, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

Temperatures have plummeted 15 degrees with the change, but senior meteorologist Angus Hines said the hours that follow the wind change over fire grounds will be “crucial”.

“Those fires start to blow in a new path, and also, because those wind changes can be really quite blustery and gusty, and not really consistent, it can really make for quite erratic fire behaviour,” Hines said.

“The first half of the day tomorrow will be a pretty key time to see if those fires do flare up again, or if they’re able to be a little bit more contained than they were today.”

Winds should drop off overnight after a day of gusts up to 100km/h. Fires are currently burning in all Victorian districts.

After an uncertain few hours on the fire grounds, the cool change would ultimately bring in milder air, cooler conditions, more humidity and cloud cover to Victoria, Hines said.

“So overall, that will act to suppress the fire danger across the state from overnight tonight into the weekend, but in the short term – the next few hours, as that wind changes, and that wind surges quite strongly for a couple of hours – it’s continuing to be really challenging,” Hines said.

There is warning for poor air quality across all of Victoria, as people in the city report falling ash and the smell of smoke.

A community information statement released via the VicEmergency app says people will be able to see and smell smoke following today’s extreme bushfire conditions.

People from areas including St Kilda, Geelong and Melbourne’s CBD have all reported seeing ash, or smelling smoke this evening.

One Northcote resident said they thought it was residue from a barbecue when they saw ash settling in their backyard and on their clothing.

Another person in Melbourne’s CBD said ash was falling through an open tram window.

The alert was initially specific to Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula, but has since been extended to cover the whole state.

“The smoke is a result of multiple bushfires and grassfires burning across various parts of the state … [it] may drift to far-reaching areas away from the fires,” the statement said.

Firefighters have managed to keep flames out of the north-east Victorian township of Alexandra, but it is still under threat, a local resident says.

Caolan O’Connor said his town was “definitely not out of the woods yet, and probably won’t be for a little while”.

“Everyone who is here in Alex at the moment knows someone who has lost a property, or lost a friend’s property, or been impacted in some way up in the hills. And absolutely those emotional impacts of it are definitely being felt in town,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor is involved with multiple community groups including the local chamber of commerce so stayed to support locals, but he was pleased so many residents heeded evacuation warnings.

“Lots of people chose the smarter option of moving elsewhere and getting out of the way of this little beast we’ve had today,” he said.

This time of year is usually peak season for the tourist town, and O’Connor urged visitors to return once the area was safe again to help businesses get back on their feet.

“That support in three months or six months’ time is just as important, if not more so, than support tomorrow or next week,” he said.

Premier Jacinta Allan has warned the next few hours are going to be the “most difficult and dangerous” when it comes to fire conditions across Victoria today.

Speaking to Nine News, she said heeding the warnings of emergency services would “save lives” as a significant weather change rolls across Victoria.

“The next few hours are going to be the most difficult and dangerous conditions as the weather changes, the wind changes and night falls,” Allan said.

“Firefighters and emergency services who are out there – and have already been working day and night – they’ve got some very difficult days and nights ahead, particularly with the way the weather is changing.

“Now is the time to stay tuned into local radio, have the VicEmergency app up, and stay connected to family and loved ones, because we know that is the most effective way to support the work of our firefighters.”