Queensland's bushfire crisis is far from over but exhausted firefighters hope to finally gain the upper hand as extreme conditions ease.
Thousands of people fled their homes on Wednesday, amid the worst fire conditions the state has ever seen.
The premier says it is remarkable that no lives have been lost and that entire communities have been spared, thanks in part to technology borrowed from fire-prone Victoria.
"What we experienced yesterday was off the charts ... Nobody has recorded these conditions any time in the history of Queensland," Annastacia Palaszczuk told reporters on Thursday.
"I want to thank everyone on the front line."
But the state is not yet out of the woods, with days of very high temperatures ahead and more than 100 fires still burning.
Ms Palaszczuk expressed elation that 8500 people who fled from Gracemere, near Rockhampton, still had homes to return to after a courageous, high-tech fight to save their town.
"(There is) relief, joy, everyone should just be so happy," she said, later revealing how a fire simulator - developed in Victoria and adapted to to the Queensland crisis - had helped save the town.
The simulator gave fire crews a good understanding of where the blaze was headed and how quickly, allowing the safe mass evacuation of Gracemere.
It also helped crews work out how best to fight the fire, and stop it from destroying thousands of homes.
The damage bill from the fires won't be known for some time, with rapid assessment crews yet to reach many areas.
Some homes are confirmed lost in the Deepwater area, north of Bundaberg, and at Finch Hatton, west of Mackay.
Fire and Emergency Services Minister Craig Crawford said 104 fires were burning on Thursday, down from about 200 on Wednesday.
But that number is expected to rise over the course of the day.
"I'll be comfortable when it's down to around 50, although that's still a high number to have," he told ABC radio.
Australian Associated Press
