● More than 180 people have been arrested accused of deliberately lighting bushfires since the start of the horror season which has left 25 dead and destroyed more than 2,000 homes. On the New South Wales south coast, where at least nine people have died since the fire season picked up in October, 29 blazes have been deliberately lit.
So far 24 people across the state have been charged with starting blazes in the bush, while a further 159 have been charged or cautioned over less serious fire offences.
The claims of arson have already become a political battleground, with some politicians and commentators seizing on them to argue that the impact of climate change has been overstated.
Referring to the arrests, Liberal MP and climate change sceptic Craig Kelly told ABC News that 'arson is not caused by climate change'.
'Unprecedented' numbers of people had been arrested and charged with arson offences, he claimed.
Mr Kelly also sparked a row on UK television after claiming there was 'no link' between climate change and the fires in an interview on Good Morning Britain, then calling meteorologist Laura Tobin an 'ignorant Pommy weather girl'.
Todd Starnes, a former conservative talk show host in the US, also leaped on the arson arrests to make a similar argument.
'It turns out - climate change has nothing to do with the humanitarian crisis unfolding Down Under,' he said.
Scientists do not say that climate change is causing the fires, but believe it is amplifying the conditions necessary for firestorms to form.
Physicist Scott Menor said that even if all the fires were started by arson, 'climate change made the difference between throwing a match in water to throwing it in gasoline'.
In addition, analysis by Dr Timothy Graham from the Queensland University of Technology suggests that there may be a deliberate misinformation campaign on Twitter to cast doubt on the effect of climate change.
Tweets with the hashtag #ArsonEmergency were more likely to come from suspect accounts than others such as #AustraliaFire, he found, according to ZDNet.
The fires have caught the attention of Hollywood, where numerous movie stars used Sunday night's Golden Globes to draw attention to the blazes - some of them saying that the situation was proof of the need to do more to fight climate change.
In Queensland, police have arrested 101 people accused of starting bushfires, 69 juveniles and 32 adults.
Five people were arrested for allegedly setting bushland alight in Tasmania - and a further 10 in South Australia.
Meanwhile in Victoria, where locals have experienced some of the most catastrophic conditions the nation has ever seen, 43 people were charged with firebug offences.
There have been 183 people arrested or charged with lighting bushfires nationally - and police fear that figure will climb.
'Police are well aware that we need to take action against people, whatever that might be, in this time it is particularly a heightened risk of fire activity and we've seen the devastation it causes,' NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Gary Worboys said on Tuesday.
'We make no apologies for being so vigilant about that.'
Mitch Parish, a former arson squad detective, said the international frenzy surrounding the bushfire crisis would only increase a 'vanity arsonists' desire to light an inferno.
'It's got to the stage where they're seeing all the publicity on the fires … and they get bit of a buzz because of all the attention,' Mr Parish said.
'People get very emotional and passionate (about fires) and feel a lot of power because it's a very destructive force.'
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