Three strained words was the last Ralph Koch heard from his longtime friends the Davey family.
Seeing a bright orange glow as he looked up from his Cottles Bridge home towards the young family's Kinglake house on the hill above, Mr Koch knew fire was bearing down on them.
PHOTOS: Lost to a ferocious fire
He rang about 4.30pm (AEDT) on Saturday to find out how they were going.
Tash Davey, a mother of two children under four, picked up the phone and screamed three words: "We're going, fire".
It was the last anyone heard from the family.
Initially, Mr Koch believed his friends had fled their home, but after 30 hours he knew there was no hope.
Tash and her husband Rob, both in their 30s, and their two children Jorja, 3, and Alexis, eight months, never made it off their property.
The Daveys were high school sweethearts who met in Warrnambool when they were 15.
Mr Davey worked from home importing quality wines into Australia.
His wife looked after their two young children.
The Davey and Koch men shared an interest in Alaskan Malamute dogs and had been mates for 10 years.
The men bred the dogs and the families would camp together when they raced dogs through Victoria every winter.
Mr Koch was godfather to Jorja and the Daveys even lived with the Kochs while they built their house.
He spent Tuesday sorting out the family's insurance papers.
"They just had no time, no warning, they never stood a chance," Mr Koch said.
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