Wildfires raging across southern Australia have killed one man and destroyed several homes.

Police said the man's body was found in a burned-out car near the small town of Seaton, about 200km east of Melbourne in Victoria state.

The man is the first person confirmed killed in the hundreds of fires which have been raging across the continent since the Australian summer began.

A 61-year-old firefighter was also found dead on Sunday, a few miles from a backburning operation in the island state of Tasmania. Officials have not yet determined how he died.

Wildfires are common throughout Australia in the summer, although record-high temperatures and dry conditions in many areas have added to the ferocity of some of the blazes.