A dangerous fugitive accused of killing two police officers faces another night on the run, up against 115km/h winds and bitterly cold blizzard conditions in the wilderness of Victoria's high country.
Accused gunman Dezi Freeman remains at large following a fatal confrontation on Tuesday at a property in Porepunkah, about 300km northeast of Melbourne.
Freeman, 56, fled into bushland after he allegedly killed Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35.
Tough conditions have impacted the search effort, with a severe weather warning issued for the area.
Officers were delivered another blow on Friday afternoon as a thunderstorm, lashings of rain and hail passed through the rural town.
Conditions are expected to further deteriorate into the evening with damaging winds and blizzard-like conditions forecast for parts of the eastern ranges.
"Where those strong winds combine with snow, we may see blizzard conditions, particularly likely across the eastern alpine areas of Victoria," the Bureau of Meteorology's Miriam Bradbury said.
"Those blizzards may produce white-out conditions about our alpine regions, particularly later today, going into tomorrow."
Victoria's Emergency Management Commissioner Tim Wiebusch said wind speeds would exceed 100km/h.
"We've not seen a significant weather event like this for some years," he told reporters on Friday afternoon.
"That will continue to make conditions very difficult for the police incident up around Porepunkah."
Officers continue to scour mines, caves and dugouts in and around the small rural town as they search for Freeman, who has bush survival experience and is heavily armed.
Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said the more than 450 police officers deployed to Porepunkah as part of the search were used to working in inclement conditions.
