A man and a woman have died and 32 homes have been lost in bushfires that continue to burn in Queensland’s Western Downs.

Hundreds have been evacuated from Tara, 300km west of Brisbane, where more than 11,000 hectares burned and over 350 people were evacuated.

“We've been fighting more than 100 vegetation fires across the state already this week. And as the conditions are prevailing, certainly the very high to extreme fire danger conditions are still continuing,” Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES) acting assistant commissioner Peter Hollier said.

Nighttime lightning ignited fires, and conditions remain hot, dry and windy, he said.

“The challenge is things are so dry, we haven't seen it so dry. That southwestern part of the region of the state certainly hasn't had any significant rain since last year so it only takes a spark, with the wind and temperature. There is certainly opportunity for a fire to make a run fairly quickly, what we refer to as a wind-driven fire.”

The pre-summer fires come as ocean indicators firmly exhibit an ongoing El Nino state, which is expected to continue until February and augurs for notably drier conditions across western, northern and southern Australia, increasing fire and drought risk. 

A positive Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) weather phenomena is expected to continue until December, bringing reduced spring rainfall to central and eastern Australia.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecast Extreme Fire Danger for today in the Central West, North West and Channel Country districts. It warned of “hot and very dry conditions with fresh and gusty southeasterly winds.”

"I think it will be a long, hot, dry season,” Mr Hollier said. "This year is a particularly extraordinary year where the fires have actually started in the southwest and the south and moving to the north. Historically, our fire season always starts at the far north of Queensland.

"Recently, on the Sunshine Coast, there was quite a fast-moving rapid fire. We've had fires up into the central region, northern region around Townsville, and up into the Atherton Tablelands. So a little bit of a different year for us where the fire started to the south.” 

At Mount Isa, residents were warned to leave their homes early today and an emergency warning was put in place for a fire near Lake Moondarra. The Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) says ground crews and waterbombing aircraft are working to control two fires partly burning in inaccessible country, and heavy machinery is being used by firefighters to establish containment lines.

"There's not one area of the state...If fire kicks off under the current conditions it will require our attention,” Mr Hollier said.

In the Northern Territory a vast area has burned over the last seven weeks and extreme warnings remain in place. Firefighters managed to steer a fire away from the northern edge of Tennant Creek.