Alasdair Hainsworth, from the Bureau of Meteorology, said the weather was unprecedented but the forecasters were unable to say when "this incredible build-up of heat" will finally end. "There is no end of sight to this incredibly hot spell above central Australia," he said. With the lack of cloud over central Australia - the lack of moisture - we are just seeing the conditions getting hotter and hotter... We haven't seen these temperatures before. More than 100 wildfires broke out across Australia's east coast on Tuesday and forced thousands to flee their homes. A firefighter extinguishes a grassfire in Sunbury north of Melbourne, Victoria (EPA) Temperatures soared in New South Wales and fires have continued to spread towards rural communities. Residents of several towns were warned that it was too late to try to flee the incoming flames. The severe fire conditions this week were expected to replicate those of 2009, when "Black Saturday" wildfires in the state of Victoria killed 173 people and caused billions of dollars worth of damage. More than 60,000 hectares of bushland were razed yesterday - but remarkably there were no reported deaths and only one property has as yet been destroyed. The fire damaged an electricity substation but was later brought under control. Wildfire smoke rises from hills behind the village of Numeralla in New South Wales (AP) A kangaroo hops through a burnt out paddock after a grassfire in Sunbury north of Melbourne,Victoria (EPA) "We did have guests staying last night and they were supposed to be checking out this morning and they wanted to stay and help us, but we were like, "No, please go."" In the state of Victoria, several fires have been blazing across the south-west and forced small farming townships to flee. Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan receives medical treatment after being affected by high temperatures during her match at the Sydney International tennis tournament (Reuters)