The fire, which started at Muskvale about 3pm, was still burning yesterday with a number of roads closed around Wheatsheaf, Coomoora and the Wombat State Forest.

An incident report at 10.30am said the fire was burning five kilometres both north and south of Daylesford and heading in a northerly direction.

More than 400 firefighters, 70 trucks, six bulldozers and six aircraft have been deployed.

The bushfire threatened a number of townships and communities with warnings issued throughout the evening and night for Daylesford, Lyonville, Coomoora, Wheatsheaf, Bullarto, Leonards Hill, Woodburn, Glenlyon and Newbury.

Emergency relief centres were set up at town halls at Daylesford, Ballan and Kyneton with up to 300 people registering at Daylesford alone.

About 40 people spent the night there with another 30 opting for the floor of the Kyneton Town Hall.

Others stayed in their cars at the back of the building.

Victoria Park was set up as a CFA staging ground.

A community meeting was held at the Daylesford ARC at 1pm and 7pm yesterday.

The meetings were attended by representatives from the DSE, CFA, DHS, Victoria Police and Hepburn Shire Council and included information on fire preparation for this Friday's predicted extreme weather.

Shire communications officer Sue Moses said yesterday morning there were no figures on damage throughout the fire affected regions although it was believed no lives or houses were lost.