Australia-The Heartache and cost of the fires in rural Australia.

DISASTER victim identification teams combing Victoria have found large groups of bodies, including one with eight bodies huddled to protect a baby.

Australians have been warned to brace for more bad news on bushfire death as more shocking details of the Victoria fires are revealed.

DVI experts are still combing the worst-affected areas and Detective Inspector Bob Sitlington said patience was needed to enable accurate records of victims to be collected, The Courier Mail reported.

"It is slow but we want to positively identify victims, the last thing we would want to do is misidentify," he said.

Insp Sitlington said he had been with team members in Kinglake yesterday, where earlier in the week experts found horrific scenes, including eight bodies huddled around a baby’s body.

"There was a multiple death in a group, and from what I understand they were trying to protect a baby," he said."We don’t know exactly what happened. Imagine what people naturally do, they tend to cuddle ... and to protect each other, and with the intensity of the fire we do find sometimes bodies are fused together."

The total death toll from the blazes that ripped through the central highlands and Gippsland last Saturday still stands at 181.

The Victorian Coroner is prepared for as many as 300 bodies, Police Commissioner Christine Nixon said.

On Friday, police said 1831 houses had been destroyed and more than 7000 people had been made homeless.

A 39-year-old man has been charged in relation to the Churchill fire in south Gippsland which killed 21 people.

Asbestos is causing problems for victim identification teams and residents have been warned about going through suspicious areas of their homes.

All residents also have been given gloves and masks for safety.

Insp Sitlington said teams were doing their best in difficult circumstances.

"Having 1800 houses, all those deceased that were found in cars or in the open have been dealt with, and now it’s a slower way of moving around," he said.