A 56-year-old man's body has been found following an out-of-control bushfire in New South Wales.
The man's body was found by police, next to a destroyed bulldozer west of Kempsey.
While a formal identification is yet to be done, policed said they believe the man was a local property owner.
More than 9600 hectares of land has so far burned in the state's Willi Willi National Park area.
On Monday night residents were told it was "too late to leave" after the blaze started to move towards homes.
A crime scene has been established while investigations continued.
It is believed to be the first civilian death of the fire season and follows the death of a volunteer firefighter at the weekend who suffered a "medical incident".
This morning, there were more than 700 firefighters battling 69 bushfires around the state, with 32 not yet contained and one threatening to burn out of control.
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