Fire crews are racing to protect Victoria’s richest concentration of Indigenous rock art, as they tackle out-of-control blazes ahead of an expected heatwave.

Bushfires continue to burn out of control at the Grampians National Park in Victoria’s west after about 10,000 lightning strikes hit the ground in the state, following hot conditions on Monday.

Firefighters are working to contain the blazes and prevent impacts on the national park that is home to about 200 Indigenous rock art sites, State Control Centre spokeswoman Reegan Key said on Friday.

The park contains “the richest concentration of rock art in Victoria”, which was among 500 Indigenous cultural sites in the area, she said.

“With three major fires now in the Grampians National Park in the last month, we want to recognise the anxiety and impact these fires are having on the community themselves, but also the traditional owners of this country,” she said.

There were watch and act warnings on Friday for residents of Wartool, Zumsteins, Brimpaen, Mooralla, Woohlpooer, Big Cord, Strachans, Victoria Valley, Glenisla, Hynes, the eastern side of Rocklands and the Little Desert National Park.

People along other parts of the park’s western flank were told to monitor conditions.

A fire continues to burn at the Little Desert National Park north-west of the Grampians blaze, after claiming one home near the town of Dimboola, a second home further west and an event centre.

Country Fire Authority volunteers are backburning between the western Victorian towns of Dunkeld and Cavendish to create fire breaks in the southern Grampians amid fears fires at either end of the park could meet.

Aircraft, bulldozers and ground crews are removing vegetation to create control lines to prevent fires from progressing while spraying down areas that are difficult to reach.

Private land along the Victoria Range in the western flank of the Grampians remains at real risk after the fire burned more than 10,000 hectares.

On Thursday, Key said benign weather conditions on Friday and Saturday offered firefighters an opportunity to get in and around the fires before the heat arrives on Sunday.

“The next few days, hopefully we will have firefighters in the area working to support those communities and lessen the impacts,” she said.

“The focus will be very strongly on trying to minimise the potential impacts of those warmer days coming over the weekend and into next week.”

While the forecast for Victoria from Sunday onwards pointed to the mercury surpassing 40 degrees, Key said authorities’ concerns weren’t as strong with the absence of winds.

“The fire does love heat and dry conditions, but it is when we see some significant winds you do see those fires take runs,” she said.

-AAP