Fire danger in some parts of NSW has risen to severe as hot, dry, windy conditions put an end to a brief reprieve for bushfire-hit areas of the state.
In Queensland, firefighters are facing another day of severe fire conditions as dry westerly winds bring heatwave conditions to the state.
Raging fires over the past week have claimed four lives in NSW and destroyed more than 300 homes.
While conditions eased following a "catastrophic" danger rating earlier in the week, the forecast of hot, dry weather once again poses a threat on Friday.
NSW bushfires Source: Fire and Rescue NSW Twitter
A severe fire danger rating is in place for the far north coast, north coast, Greater Hunter, Greater Sydney Region and Illawarra-Shoalhaven and large parts of the state are under total fire bans.
"Even though the situation has improved in many areas over the past couple of days, it's still volatile and important to continue to closely monitor," the Bureau of Meteorology NSW tweeted.
The bureau has warned conditions will continue to deteriorate in Queensland as extremely hot air is pushed across the state on Friday and into the weekend.
"The story is one of very high fire dangers or severe fire danger ratings for the next three days," BOM forecaster Richard Wardell told AAP.
Severe isolated storms cells have also been forecast to potentially bring dry lightning which could ignite more bushfires.
More than 1600 firefighters were battling some 60 bushfires in NSW on Thursday night, more than half of which were uncontained, the Rural Fire Service said.
Another 70 fires are burning across Queensland, with alerts in place for Black Snake, in the Gympie region, and the coastal towns of Woodgate and Buxton, south of Bundaberg, on Thursday afternoon.
As the fire threat deepens, anger is growing toward a teenage boy accused of lighting the Cobraball fire near Yeppoon.
A total of 36 structures - including 14 homes - have so far been destroyed by the massive blaze, that has burned for days in central Queensland.
Firefighters have been battling blazes since Friday. Source: Supplied
As news broke that the death toll had risen to four, harrowing details emerged of the latest victim's frightening last hours.
Barry Parsons' body was discovered in bushland on the southern end of the Kyuna Track at Willawarrin, near Kempsey, on Wednesday night, five days after he was last seen.
The last post on a Facebook page in the 58-year-old's name described Friday's apocalyptic conditions.
Barry Parsons said the approaching fire sounded like the apocalypse. Source: Facebook
"Seriously looks and sounds like apocolyse (sic) out there. F**ked up being on your own in these times," it read.
Mr Parsons had reportedly been living alone in a shed in the remote area.
News of his death follows that of Julie Fletcher, 63, who died in the town of Johns River, and Wytaliba locals Vivian Chaplain, 69, and elderly man George Nole.
About 60 schools will remain closed on Friday.
The Insurance Council of Australia said insurers had received 730 claim applications, with initial losses totalling $80 million.
