Under-threat towns' fate depends on which way the wind blows.

The idyllic coastal hamlet of Mallacoota was on Monday night preparing for one of the longest nights in the town’s history, with a forecast midnight wind change expected to bring a massive firefront to its door.

Smoke plumes from a bushfire seen northwest of Bruthen in East Gippsland.

As Victoria sweltered through a day of baking heat and parching northerly winds, fires raged across a 200-kilometre stretch of East Gippsland, with nine separate emergency warnings in force, popular holiday towns cut off by road closures and residents urged to stay put and find shelter within their communities.

By 5am Tuesday, there were eight separate emergency warnings in place, covering scores of towns, with 190,000 hectares burnt out. A huge fire was bearing down to the west of Mallocoota and another raged near Orbost. The Vic Emergency warnings map showed the far east of the state almost entirely under threat.

Read the story from The Age - “Under-threat towns' fate depends on which way the wind blows.”