9.03pm: The Rural Fire Service had earlier directed people from outlying areas to head for shelter in Cassilis, a town of about 300 people east of Dunedoo but with the fire approaching, the RFS now says it has crews in place to defend the town should the fire hit.

Farmer Warren Jarvis said he had lost property and animals to the Cassilis fire.

"I've been watching the smoke since yesterday, before it came up around the hill," he said as he fled the fire front. Read more

8.10pm: The toll of properties lost in the Pappinbarra fire now stands at unconfirmed eight, says Wauchope Show Society president Neil Coombes.

7.35pm: The Kamilaroi Highway is closed again between Gunnedah and Boggabri due to a bush fire.

Motorists are advised to avoid the area.

Additionally, the following roads remain closed due to bush fires:

Motorists are advised to allow extra travel time, exercise caution and follow the direction of emergency services and traffic crews.

7pm: People who are north west of Black Stump Rd should leave now towards Dunedoo or Mendooran if the path is clear. Read more

5.57pm: Dozens of properties are expected to be damaged as out of control bushfires continue to grip the state. 

Rural Fire Service superintendent Cam Baker says one property has been lost in the Pappinbarra Road fire and around another 20 homes are under threat.

"We've currently got a very fast moving and quickly escalating fire at Pappinbarra Road near Hollisdale", Superintendent Baker told the ABC.

"We've had a report of a structural loss at this stage. Crews are trying to gain the upper hand, weather conditions are not good for us at the moment". 

5.15pm: One person has been seriously burnt in the out-of-control blaze at Boggabri.

The member of the public was injured on Sunday afternoon as the fire raged near the town.

The person is being flown to Sydney for specialist treatment for the burns, the RFS said.

4.38pm: 2,500 NSW firefighters are battling 82 fires, with 32 not contained. Five are at Emergency Warning and seven at Watch and Act. 

4.32pm: Firefighters are preparing to defend the tiny town of Cassilis in the central west from a fire front driven by increasing winds, ahead of a cool change expected to break the state's historic heatwave later this evening.

The Rural Fire Service had earlier directed people from outlying areas to head for shelter in Cassilis, a town of about 300 people, but with the fire approaching, the RFS now says it has crews in place to defend the town should the fire hit.

Bushfires burning in four parts of the state have triggered five emergency warnings, with residents told to shelter as the fires approach.

4:30pm: There are five emergency warnings in place around the state:​

4pm: 

Four emergency warnings are currently in place across New South Wales. 

They are for:

3.40pm: The NSW RFS has provided an update on the bushfire situation. You can view the press conference here.

3.06pm: The NSW RFS has issued an emergency warning for Sir Ivan Fire. They say it’s too late to leave and residents must seek shelter now.

2.55pm: 

2.50pm: 

2pm: The Mudgee Guardian is reporting power outages in the area – keep up with the local coverage of the Sir Ivan fire, Leadville, here.

1.45pm: New South Wales Rural Fire Service Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers says the Sir Ivan fire, Leadville, is moving easterly at 12km/h.

1.30pm: The blaze that threatened the outskirts of Narromine this afternoon has been fully contained following a quick response from emergency services.

1.15pm: New South Wales Rural Fire Service has released video footage of a fire that has breached containment lines at Leadville, in the state’s central west.

1.05pm: Seven firefighting vehicles have been deployed to fight a blaze at Narromine.

12.40pm: Residents of the towns of Uarbry and Turill, north of Mudgee in the state's central west, have been told to leave their homes now after a fire breached containment lines.

The Rural Fire Service issued the emergency warning just before midday, telling residents to head towards the town of Cassilis. People living North of Ulan are urged to leave immediately and head south towards Mudgee.

The RFS said there are unconfirmed reports of a house lost in the fire.

Emergency alert telephone messages are being sent to people in the area.

10.30am: The NSW Rural Fire Service has upgraded the fire threat in parts of the state amid warnings of "catastrophic conditions" that are expected to take hold around midday.

As NSW faces the "worst possible fire conditions" in its history with 'extreme' and catastrophic' warnings in place across large slabs of the state, RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said the situation was as "bad as it gets" and warned it was set to get worse on Sunday when winds are expected to sweep through scorched parts of mid to northern NSW. 

"To put it simply [the conditions] are off the old scale," he said. "It is without precedent in NSW". 

On Sunday, the RFS reported 76 bush and grass fires across NSW with 18 not yet contained. Deputy Commission Rob Rogers told ABC news on Sunday morning:  "It's going to be a really tough day." 

Weather conditions are expected to deteriorate during the morning with the Bureau of Meteorology now saying catastrophic conditions may emerge around 11am to midday.

The RFS is particularly concerned about a fire burning east of Dunedoo and expect it to break containment lines. Concerns are also held around the mid-north coast around Taree and Wauchope. A number of fires are burning to the east of Buladelah.

Deputy Commissioner Rogers warned residents in areas listed as 'catastrophic' to leave their homes.

"We've got everything we can possibly need to be ready for this but obviously in conditions forecast like this, we can't guarantee to save everybody, we can't guarantee to save every house, we can't even guarantee to have a fire truck at every fire.

"People just need to focus on their own safety today."

A dramatic graphic image of the threat released by the RFS on Sunday shows a great swathe of the state covered in red, representing a 'catastrophic' or 'extreme' threat.

The area stretches from the lower central west plains taking in Dubbo, Parkes and Wellington, right up to the Queensland border in the north western region taking in Moree and Walgett.

The extreme threat stretches to the east taking in Gunnedah, Tamworth and the coastal Kempsey, Coffs Harbour region.

On Sunday morning, the Southern Ranges and Easter RIverina were upgraded to very high fire danger.

Commissioner Fitzsimmons said "catastrophic" fire ratings had been issued only once before in NSW - in 2013 - since national standardised ratings were introduced in 2009.

"This is an area three to five times larger than January 2013," he said, when more than 140 fires burned across the state. 

"[Any fire] will consume whatever is in its path." 

Commissioner Fitzsimmons said conditions in some parts of NSW could be worse than Victoria's Black Saturday fires, Australia's worst ever fire disaster which claimed 173 lives in 2009.

He warned residents to prepare themselves. "We can't guarantee that a warning or telephone message will occur for everyone that comes under threat," he said. Text message warnings were being sent to residents in the Hunter Valley region on Saturday night.

Sydney's west recorded its hottest ever day, hitting 46.9 degrees at Penrith, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, eclipsing its previous hottest of 46.5 degrees in January 2013, while Richmond touched the 47 degree mark. 

On the coast, Saturday's top of 36.1 degrees made it a record 11th day above 35 in Sydney this summer, while in the state's west, the small township of Ivanhoe, population 200, reached a stifling maximum of 47.6 degrees; the second hottest February temperature ever recorded in NSW.

A top of 39 degrees is forecast for Penrith on Sunday. It will reach 29 degrees in the CBD.