The final death toll of the devastating "Hell on Earth" bushfires could be well above 200, according to reports of government crisis meetings.
With the official toll standing at 131, the fires are already the worst natural disaster to ever befall Australians.
Some of the fires are still burning, threatening the Glenhope area north of Melbourne and the towns of Beechworth and Yackandandah in the northeast.
The Victorian government has been briefed to expect a final death toll close to 230, according to a report in The Australian.
Police have also found eight bodies at Narbethong, north-west of Melbourne.
"[The death toll] is still likely to climb unfortunately," Country Fire Authority state duty officer Mark Glover said.
PHOTOS: Fatal inferno
YOUR PHOTOS: In the line of fire
A clearly shaken Kevin Rudd has told the Nine Network that if firebugs lit some of the bushfires then they are responsible for "mass murder".
"What do you say about anyone like that — there are no words to describe it other than mass murder."
"The nation should brace itself for a very challenging time ahead," he said. (Watch Rudd's interview)
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon said forensic investigators had begun work in the Churchill region, where police suspect arson was involved.
"At this stage we have a team at the fire at Churchill in the Gippsland Valley, which is certainly one that we believe was deliberately lit," Ms Nixon said.
"Our fire experts and our own investigators have suggested that the way that it happened, how fast that it happened, that there is good evidence to believe that it was lit."
Nixon said investigators were also working in the Kinglake area north of Melbourne, where most of the deaths confirmed so far occurred. (Click to see a map of the fatal fires)
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The latest death toll surpasses the toll from the 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires, in which 75 people died in Victoria and South Australia, and the Black Friday bushfires of 1939, which killed 71.
At least 750 homes were destroyed in the fires and more than 330,000ha burnt out, and authorities say some fires could take weeks to contain.
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Ingenious place to take cover
As a "fireball" engulfed a home in Kinglake, three residents took refuge in a wombat hole.
"By the time I got my neighbours and got back to my house, we were under full fire attack," she told TODAY.
"I looked out the front or out the backyard and noticed that most of this had burnt by then and thought, 'We just need to run and we need to run now'."
With a neighbouring mother and son and also her dog, she moved downhill to a nearby creek but found it provided little cover.
It was then that a split-second decision to huddle in the wombat hole saved their lives.
"We just made a canopy of wet sheets and curtains that we had with us and just hid [in the burrow]," she said. (Read more: Horse saves farmer)
Mother couldn't save children
Among the other tragic stories to emerge from Kinglake were of a young boy and a girl burnt alive inside their home.
"The kids perished, their mother got out but she couldn't get the kids out," Kinglake resident Mary-Anne Mercuri said.
Ms Mercuri also spoke of sisters in their 20s whose bodies were found in the front of their rented house.
"Two young girls around the corner from me were found in the front of their house. There's no way they could have got out. They would have tried to escape but there was nowhere to go."
The mother-of-three said that when the fire arrived it felt like exploding red burning bullets were being shot horizontally at them.
"These big burning chunks started falling from the sky, there was a lot of power behind them. I guess they were exploding parts of trees," Ms Mercuri said. "We are lucky to be alive."
Kinglake resident Chris Harvey said his daughters Victoria and Ali, both in their 20s, told of a local man, Ross, who lost both his daughters and possibly a brother.
"He apparently went to put his kids in the car, put them in, turned around to go grab something from the house, then his car was on fire with his kids in it, and they burnt," Victoria said.
* If you need information on the bushfires, call 1800 240 667
* If you are concerned about family and friends, call 1800 727 077
To donate to the relief efforts of the Victorian bushfires, go to the Red Cross State Government Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund or The Salvation Army Bushfire Relief Appeal.
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