The bushfire is travelling in a north-easterly direction towards Tonimbuk and Garfield North. Weather conditions changed unexpectedly and the fire is moving towards Mintern Road in Tynong Road.
"The safest option is to take shelter indoors immediately. It is too late to leave. Leaving now would be deadly," the warning says.
Lightning strikes at 4.50pm over the south-east and north of Melbourne during a storm which sparked several bushfires. Credit:Bureau of Meteorology
"Firefighters and aircraft have been unable to stop the fire."
Victoria is in the grip of a four-day heatwave, with sweltering days and hot nights forecast ahead of a cool change on Sunday.
Fire at the Bunyip State Park, taken from Cockatoo. Credit:Laurence Fang
On Friday afternoon, thunderstorms which were moving over the outer eastern suburbs to the north of Melbourne saw significant lightning over the city.
"Several storms moved through this afternoon and multiple fires were started by lightning strikes. A number of those were in Bunyip State Park," a State Control Centre spokesman said.
"It's just so dry, the forest and grass area is so dry."
It is estimated the blaze is within one to two kilometres of properties.
A watch and act alert has been issued for fires burning near Gembrook, in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, and another nearby in Tynong North in West Gippsland.
The fire can be seen from Gembrook. Credit:Kelly Galvin
One of the fires seen from Nar Nar Goon. Credit:Michael Gordon
Those is Gembrook, Whites Corner and Beenak have been told to stay close to buildings they can take shelter while firefighters attempt to control the blaze.
"There have been multiple lightning strikes in the area of the Bunyip State Park. This fire is near the Gilwell Park Scout Park," the warning reads.
The fire is travelling in a north-westerly direction towards Gembrook.
Melbourne reached 38.1 degrees on Friday at 5.15pm, while Avalon hit 40.1 degrees just after 2pm.
At the Ferny Creek weather station, the closest to the fires, it hit 34.7 degrees just before 5pm with winds of about 10km/h.
It comes as the bureau revealed Victoria had its hottest summer on record.
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The mean temperature between December last year and February across the state was 2.54 degrees above the summer average, while rainfall was 12 per cent below average.
Simone is a breaking news reporter for The Age. Most recently she covered breaking news for The Australian in Melbourne.
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