The Victorian Government must act fast to provide adequate court space for a class action related to the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, which is likely to be the largest of its type, according to lawyers Maurice Blackburn.

“The State Government has known this trial was coming for some time now and it has known there were capacity issues,” Maurice Blackburn Senior Associate Rory Walsh said. “This needs to be sorted as an urgent priority for the people who have been awaiting this trial.”

Mr Walsh’s comments come after Justice Jack Forrest, who will preside over the Kilmore East-Kinglake fire class action due to begin in January, said no courtroom will be large enough to hear the case because of the large number of parties involved.

The court has examined a number of options and might have to lease space in Melbourne’s CBD, Justice Forrest said.

“To proceed [with the class action], the court requires an urgent commitment from the Government to make a courtroom available for the trial,” Justice Forrest told The Age newspaper. “I will have to stay [the case] indefinitely until we have suitable facilities.”

Fitting out an appropriate space could take four months, he said.

The Government says it is working to provide adequate space for the case, which could run for six months.

The class action is one of two run by Maurice Blackburn against power group SP AusNet over claims the Kilmore East–Kinglake and Murrindindi-Marysville fires in 2009 were started by faults in its power lines.

With property damage in the Kilmore fire alone estimated at $800 million, damages in the cases could outstrip the previous class action record of $200 million, set in the Centro case in May.

Commercial cases such as the Centro action are generally supported by litigation funders such as IMF Australia, which take the risk of the case going against the plaintiffs.

However, the bushfire actions are funded by Maurice Blackburn on a contingency basis; if the action fails, members of the class action will not be liable for costs.

Such actions have a lead plaintiff who is liable for costs if they fail. In the Kilmore case, the lead plaintiff is Rod Liesfield, who lost his wife and two sons along with his guesthouse in the Marysville fires.

Maurice Blackburn says that to date no similar class action has gone against