Australia's worst ever fire season officially ended this week, with Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia lifting restrictions.
The last of Victoria's restrictions were lifted on Monday, a day before the deadline for submissions to the royal commission into the crisis.
The commission has received more than 1,400 submissions, mostly from individuals, totalling more than 12,000 pages in all.
Public hearings are expected to begin in late May, with attendance likely to be electronic depending on COVID-19 restrictions.
The hearings will be streamed live.
The report and recommendations are expected to be tabled by August 31st.
The royal commission is taking place at the same time as state enquiries into the fires in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
Fire and pestilence
The last of Victoria's fire restrictions were lifted in the Corangamite and Colac Otway shires on Monday, while South Australia and Western Australia finished their seasons on Thursday.
South Australian Country Fire Service Commissioner Mark Jones says his agency is preparing for the season and supporting recovery efforts.
"The COVID-19 crisis has presented significant challenges," he said.
"But we don't want to forget that people have suffered, and that another fire season will come, and we need to be prepared for it."
The New South Wales fire season ended on March 31.
Resilience NSW, a new agency, will be directing recovery efforts in the state.
Its chief, former NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons, said his focus was clear.
"[Premier Gladys Berejiklian] said to me, "Your three biggest priorities are recovery, recovery and recovery," he said.
"So that's absolutely the mandate going forward."
New South Wales Transport Minister Andrew Constance, whose electorate on the South Coast was devastated by the fires, said the focus now needs to be on the mental health of bushfire survivors.
"The ability to draw strength from each other has been completely lost because of COVID," Mr Constance said.
"It wouldn't matter if it was a country show, or an oyster festival, or any other community event — our fire recovery community meetings, all taken from us because of the next disaster.
"And that has had a profound impact on people's ability to recover."
