Sky turns 'as dark as night' in Mallacoota bushfire

A dangerous bushfire burning near a Victorian coastal town has plunged the area into darkness.

Eerie scenes are unfolding in Mallacoota where the sky has turned black with a red glow.

This is the same town residents were forced to seek shelter on a beach and flee the fires into the ocean in apocalyptic scenes.

"Things were seemingly OK a few minutes ago and within those few minutes ago, the sky has turned absolutely orange and then it has turned black," 9News reporter Sam Cucchiara said.

He is at a relief centre in the middle of town, but there are concerns for hundreds of people stranded in the area.

The Navy were been evacuating people via water but attempts to move people out in helicopters were hampered by the thick smoke today.

"One of the main concerns at the moment is that hundreds of people are still trapped in Mallacoota who couldn't take of those Navy ships back to Melbourne," Cucchiara said.

"They are of course vulnerable people, elderly people, many families with young children and babies, they are absolutely hysterical in there at the moment.

"So many babies are crying at the moment, these people have been to the airport and they have tried to chopper them out again but those aircraft have been grounded because of the thick smoke in the area."

The town experienced similar conditions on Tuesday, but locals are "relatively calm".

"Part of that is because they have been through it already, but they do say that this does not have the same embers and smoke that Tuesday had. We have seen some ash falling from the sky, but it hasn't been hot," 9News reporter Mimi Becker said.