The suburbs most directly at risk of fire are near the bushland areas around the city such as Hornsby in the north, Penrith in the west and Camden and Sutherland in the south.

Sydney went ahead with its multi-million dollar New Year firework display at midnight on Tuesday, despite calls for it to be cancelled as much of Australia is devastated by wildfires.

Towns are running out of fuel and water, shops are selling out of basic supplies and more fatalities are expected as fires raging across southern Australia are set to get worse by Saturday.

Authorities are preparing for conditions to worsen again by Saturday in NSW and Victoria, where thousands of properties have already been razed and at least 18 people have lost their lives.

Satellite images taken on Saturday showed wildfires burning around East Gippsland and Kosciuszko National Park.

Australia's worst bushfires in living memory aren't just leaving a trail of devastation in New South Wales and Victoria. They are also threatening to push the economy into a recession.

AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver has said the bushfires engulfing Australia could wipe off up to 1 per cent of the nation's GDP growth this year - a staggering $13billion.

The Gospers Mountain mega blaze is moving rapidly at Bells Line of Road, northwest of Sydney, with the Rural Fire Service predicting a grim night for Saturday.

Holidaymakers trying to make a Christmas getaway have been urged to postpone their trips as multiple emergency level bushfires burn across Australia on Saturday.

An estimated one billion animals have been killed as massive bushfires ravage across Australia.

Fundraising efforts have been ramped up as Australia's plea for help is heard across oceans, pushing Selena Gomez, Rebel Wilson and Dacre Montgomery to donate thousands of dollars.

Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has been spotted in his firefighting gear battling blazes south of Sydney for the second time this week, as Scott Morrison faces criticism for his family holiday.

Around 72,000 sq miles of land has been affected by bushfires in Australia. So is it safe to go? Tom Chesshyre says the short answer is yes. Here's his guide to visiting in the aftermath of the disaster.

Popular comedian Jordan Shanks has called on the Queen to sack Prime Minister Scott Morrison over his handling of the bushfire crisis.

Pompeo said the US-Australian alliance was unbreakable and American firefighters had flown to Australia to help.

Leonardo DiCaprio has weighed in on Australia's bushfire crisis and has called for a 'radical overhaul' of the country's conservation efforts, in an Instagram post.

Pop superstar Katy Perry will perform at a free concert for Victoria's bushfire-ravaged community.

The former prime minister and ex-Liberal Party leader shared a photo of Sydney shrouded in a haze of bushfire smoke as he flew back into the city following a speaker trip to Singapore.

Malcolm Turnbull said the Prime Minister had misled Australians by downplaying the influence of global warming and climate change in a fiery interview with the BBC.

Russian-American Vitaly Zdorovetskiy, who goes by username Kingvitaly, spent five days in jail after being arrested for climbing one of the pyramids in Giza.

Chris Hemsworth has pledged $1million towards helping firefighters and residents affected by the Australian bushfires.

The actor was at his sprawling 400 hectare Nana Glen rural property near Coffs Harbour on the NSW north coast when his son informed him he had won the award.

Former Big Brother winner Tim Dormer has spoken out against climate change, amid Australia's ongoing bushfire crisis. 

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: All it took to transform Nick Kyrgios's image in his own country was one idea and one sentence getting caught in his throat.

From the bushfire crisis ravaging New South Wales and Queensland to the final climb of Uluru, Getty Images has reveals its most powerful photos from the past year.

An abandoned baby deer (left) has been miraculously pulled from the ashes of the devastating bushfires without injury.    

Australian scientists say the fires are categorically linked to climate change and worsened by a year-long drought linked to climate change.

Panthers, a sports club in Port Macquarie, New South Wales put up the sign in the wake of wild bushfires that have torn through Australia's east coast.

The brightest spots on the graphic are in New South Wales and Victoria, where more than 2,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed by the raging infernos.

Satellite photos have captured the enormous scale of the devastating bushfires on Kangaroo Island off the coast of South Australia. 

On Wednesday, US space agency NASA revealed that it will be months before bushfire smoke clears since plumes are sitting so high the atmosphere.

The NASA images, taken six months apart, capture the landscape between Seal Rocks and Byron Bay on the New South Wales north coast.

Once the koalas are located, the team and wildlife care experts can give the animals the support they need to survive in the wild.

Australia’s annual dry seasons are known for droughts and wildfires, but the dry season of 2019--2020 was remarkable due to the sheer extent of the devastation. By some estimates, more than 10 million hectares (38,600 square miles, an area slightly larger than the U.S. state of Indiana) burned, killing several million animals (including many of the country’s koalas) and more than 30 people. On a positive note, burned areas will recover from this disturbance, and tree planting and other forms of ecological restoration can help to hasten this process.