Australia wildfires: Thousands stranded in Tasmania

Wildfires on the Australian island of Tasmania have stranded thousands of people and destroyed at least 100 homes.

Much of Australia is experiencing a heatwave, and temperatures in the Tasmanian state capital Hobart earlier reached a record high of 41C.

Some took shelter on beaches on the Tasman Peninsula, which remains cut off.

A flotilla has brought in supplies and hundreds have been evacuated by sea.

The BBC's Nick Bryant in Sydney says large swathes of south-east Australia are suffering from the worst fire conditions since the Black Saturday disaster almost four years ago, when 173 people in rural Victoria lost their lives.

He says there has been a combination of a record-breaking heatwave, high winds and drought, with Tasmania by far the worst hit.

Much of southern Australia remains under intense heat.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a German woman died while walking in 40 degree temperatures in Cape Otway, Victoria.