Australian bushfire crisis: authorities plead for last-ditch evacuation, with terrible conditions ahead

Firefighters warn they may have to abandon homes, and even whole towns, as bushfire crisis threatens to overwhelm resources in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia

Australian authorities have made a final plea for people to flee bushfire-affected areas in three states before the onset of extreme conditions so dangerous that firefighters may be unable to defend entire towns.

On Friday, authorities in New South Wales urged people still in a 14,000 square kilometre area of the state's south coast, and in other high risk areas in the Snowy Valley, to leave overnight.