Residents return to gutted homes

Police said an investigation by arson specialists turned up signs of at least one case of foul play and a suspect was being sought. For the first day since Saturday's inferno, the official death toll did not rise. It stood at 181, although officials said it would exceed 200.

Victoria state Premier John Brumby expressed concern about the emotional impact of the sight of the destruction on survivors, especially those who had not seen television footage.

After the fires, authorities sealed off some towns because the grim task of collecting bodies from collapsed buildings was proceeding slowly and because they wanted to prevent residents from disturbing potential crime scenes. Embers were still posing a threat of flare-ups.

While there is free access to many areas in the fire zone, tensions rose as residents demanded to return to check on their homes, pets and whatever is left behind. Police granted some restricted access and urged people to be patient.

Brumby said there could be 50 to 100 fatalities just in the small township of Marysville, where so far only eight residents have been confirmed dead. The town remains sealed off.

Marysville had a population of 518 in 2006, an official census shows. It was almost completely destroyed in the fire.

Arson specialists have completed the initial stage of their investigation and found six main sources of Saturday's fires.

They found foul play in one case - near the town of Churchill, about 90 miles south-east of the state capital of Melbourne.

Of the other five fire sources, four were not suspicious and one, the Marysville fire, was not yet determined. An estimated 60,000 fires burn each year in Australia, most of which are lit accidentally or by lightning strikes or power lines.