The burn – which escaped Environment Department fire crews twice – became an out of control bushfire that destroyed four houses, sheds, farm equipment and fences. It also burnt out bushland and farmland, and infuriated and devastated locals.

The report also revealed that there was no accredited burn officer-in-charge present on the day of the government's controversial Grand Final Eve public holiday, two days after the burn was lit.

The report said sound management and control of the burn, and good decision-making was impeded "by inadequate planning, risk assessment and earlier decisions such as the lack of continuity of burn OICs (officer-in-charge) across the days of ignition including Friday, October 2,when no accredited burn OIC was present. There was a lack of adequate resourcing throughout the operation," the report, led by West Australian bushfire expert Murray Carter, found.

"From the first ignition, resources were insufficient to manage the burn and to maintain burn security when additional pressures such as escapes occurred," it said, of a burn lit two months before the start of summer.

The planned burn was lit on Wednesday, September 30, two days before the government's inaugural AFL grand final eve public holiday. It first breached containment lines on grand final day, and then again on the following Tuesday under fierce conditions.

Asked whether the grand final eve holiday, or grand final day contributed to a lack of staff on the fire, Environment Minister Lisa Neville said: "No. Absolutely not. Staffing levels are based on risk assessment, they're done at an operational level. And if the fire had been assessed as higher risk ... more staffing would have been available."

But asked whether the burn should have been lit in the first place, she said: "It probably should not have been lit, given the broader circumstances."

The secretary of the Environment Department, Adam Fennessy, apologised repeatedly and profusely to Lancefield locals at a packed community meeting held to discuss the report. The burn was planned, conducted and patrolled by staff from his department.

"I am very sorry, I am deeply sorry for the distress this fire has caused you. And the disruption and the enormous impacts it's had on your lives. When this planned burn escaped containment lines it threatened you, it threatened your properties and threatened you as a community – and we let you down," he said.

It was just one of a number of times Mr Fennessy said sorry to locals over the fire.

"I want to start the rebuilding of trust process by apologising," he said early in his address.

"I am here today to say sorry to you and your community."

Ms Neville also said: "What's occurred in Lancefield was unacceptable and the department will now work hard to ensure it has better systems and processes in place to help rebuild community trust in planned burning."

The report, which was released less than seven weeks after the houses were destroyed, also found:

• Communication by the department with the local community was inadequate at all stages of the burn, "including planning, implementation and after the escape".
• Many staff did not have sufficient awareness of the risks posed by heavy fuel loads inside the burn area.
• "A failure of decision-making" in not significantly ramping up resources after the burn first escaped on grand final day.
• Greater thought should be given to using aircraft to conduct burn security surveillance.
• Decision-makers failed by not "significantly elevating" resource levels in anticipation of adverse fire weather forecast for October 6.

The report made 22 recommendations to improve the department's planned burning program including; a call for greater recognition of "drought factors" when conducting burns, the department should consider planned burning just one of many options for managing bushfire fuels, and, that a burn scheduled for lighting should have a current and useful risk assessment. All 22 recommendations have been accepted by the department.

Also on Thursday the state government confirmed it would drop a key recommendation from the Bushfires Royal Commission, that planned burning be done on 5 per cent of public land per year to reduce bushfire risk. The government confirmed it would move away from the hectare-based target, which roughly equates to about 385,000 hectares a year, from 2016-17. The government move was widely expected.

The 5 per cent of public land target will be replaced by a "risk reduction target", a strategy recommended by the state's Inspector-General for Emergency Management.