Key points:
No more homes were lost overnight, but the damage is still being assessed
The massive fire has burned through more than 9,400 hectares of land
There are concerns Shady Hills Estate could be hit later this afternoon

Authorities in Western Australia say 71 homes are now known to have been destroyed in the bushfire emergency east of Perth.

Hundreds of people have spent the night in evacuation centres and an emergency warning remains in place for the out-of-control blaze, which started in Wooroloo on Monday and is continuing to threaten lives and homes.

WA’s Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Darren Klemm said no properties were impacted overnight, but assessment teams had confirmed the number of properties lost had increased to 71, and they were still working through the fire zone.

Crews are also expecting conditions to worsen today.

Mr Klemm said they were concerned about the impact of high winds forecast for this afternoon, with wind gusts of 70 kilometres per hour.

The Commissioner said there were “challenging times ahead” and “still a long way to go with this fire”.

He said people in the Shady Hills estate, and on the outskirts of Bullsbrook, should have their bushfire plans in place.

“We’re still having difficulties with the tracking on the northern part of the fire and that is a concern ahead of some difficult conditions today where we’re going to see the wind shift to the south-east … that will bring that northern flank under pressure,” he said.

“There is particular concern today for later this afternoon for the area of Shady Hills estate, we’re going to see gusts of up to 70 kilometres an hour in that north-west corner of the fire.”

But he said there was no evidence of any lives having being lost at this stage.

Hundreds of firefighters battling blaze

The massive fire has burned through more than 9,400 hectares of land so far, with more than 200 firefighters currently battling the blaze.

The emergency warning covers parts of The Vines, Bailup, Ellenbrook, Gidgegannup, Millendon, Walyunga National Park, Upper Swan, Aveley, Henley Brook, Avon Valley National Park, Red Hill, Belhus, Baskerville, Herne Hill, Bullsbrook, Wooroloo and Brigadoon, in the shires of Mundaring, Chittering and Northam and the City of Swan.

The fire is currently moving in a south-westerly direction.

Three evacuation centres have been set up, at the Brown Park Recreation Complex in Swan View, Swan Active in Midland and Swan Active in Beechboro.

Mr Klemm said people in the area need to enact their bushfire plans and remain vigilant, with conditions not expected to improve for days.

“We don’t want people to become complacent, we’re in day three of this fire today and it’s going to continue to be a challenging fire for at least the next three or four or five days,” he said.

“We’ve got a little bit of better weather on the weekend [and] a possibility of some rain on Sunday.”

He said people needed to be decisive and follow instructions from fire crews, even if they were in lockdown due to COVID-19.

Perth is in the middle of a five-day coronavirus lockdown, which began on Sunday evening.