Record $500m payout approved for Black Saturday bushfire survivors

A record $500 million payout has been approved for survivors of the most fatal of Victoria's Black Saturday bushfires.

About 5000 residents from the East Kilmore and Kinglake area who took part in the class action will share in $494.7 million.

The survivors sued electricity provider SP AusNet, Utility Services Corporation Limited and the Department of Sustainability and Environment after 119 lives were lost in the fires on February 7, 2009.

The class action was settled in July without admission of liability and approved by Victorian Supreme Court Justice Robert Osborn today.