The fires joined overnight in the Omeo region in Victoria state, creating a 6,000 hectare (23 square mile) blaze, according to Gippsland's Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the deployment of up to 3,000 Australian Defense Force Reserve troops to affected states. Four planes will also be leased by the government to provide water bombing.
Morrison said 23 people had died, up from 18 from earlier in the week. More than 1,500 homes have also been destroyed since the fire season began in September.
A state of disaster has been declared in Victoria and New South Wales.
Morrison also announced that the navy's largest ship, HMAS Adelaide, will be mobilized to evacuate citizens along the coast.
"Today is about ensuring we deal with the urgent crisis that is existing across fire grounds in four states in particular, to ensure we're giving everything that is needed on ground without being asked," Morrison said at a press conference.
Saturday's hot, dry and windy weather is expected to hinder firefighters and make the blazes spread quicker and further, after a brief improvement in conditions on Thursday and Friday.
Australia's Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning on Saturday morning for "damaging winds" in NSW, the state hardest hit by fires so far. Caused by passing a cold front, strong gusts up to 90 kph are expected to sweep the state's southeast.
Angus Barners, an incident controller at the Rural Fire Service in Moruya, NSW, said he expected "very challenging conditions."
"We can't stop the fires, all we can do is steer them around communities," he told CNN.
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