Yes it's way beyond the capacity of the fire services to extinguish - eventually the rains will come - there were some good falls in northern nsw the last two days. However, the south of the country is just coming into its fire season where it's normal that it won't rain for another couple of months. In fact, historically, the south is the main fire-prone area.

Just drove down to Sydney yesterday from the north which is a 900km drive through a lot of the worst hit areas - was lucky enough to get moderate weather or the trip wouldn't have been possible. Dozens of fires visible along the way - there was one burnt out section about 50 km long.