Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described them as "mass murderers" and a state premier called them "terrorists," but who they are and why they do it remains something of a mystery -- even to experts.

"We think that bushfire arsonists are motivated by different reasons from other arsonists, like people who burn down buildings," National Australian University research fellow Damon Muller told AFP.

"Most arson tends to be motivated by things like revenge or financial reward -- insurance fraud, those sorts of things.

"But there is no real money to be made in bushfire arson so it doesn't tend to be financially motivated," he said.

Muller is also the author of a recent report for the government's Australian Institute of Criminology, which said half of the nation's 20,000 to 30,000 bushfires each year are deliberately lit.

"We think bushfire arsonists tend to be motivated by psychological motives -- there is something they get out of lighting a fire, some sort of psychological need is fulfilled by it," he said.

This might be a need for excitement, or recognition or control over their environment -- and for some it is the thrill of watching firefighters and emergency services respond to their fire.

Two people -- a 31-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy -- have been charged with arson after the wildfires.

Neither of the fires they are accused of starting in New South Wales state killed anybody, but police suspect arsonists were also behind some of the major fatal blazes in neighbouring Victoria state.

Victoria state police commissioner Christine Nixon said all bushfire areas will be treated as crime scenes to determine if arson was involved.

A picturesque hamlet, which became an emblem of Australia's worst ever wildfires when aerial pictures showed it razed to the ground, was declared a crime scene for suspected arson.

Police initially blocked cars from driving into Marysville in Victoria, saying the whole town was a crime scene, but an AFP photographer made it through.

"There were still some dead bodies on the street. I saw four," he said.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Monday arsonists were guilty of mass murder.

"What do you say about anyone like that -- there are no words to describe it other than mass murder," Rudd said.

Arsonists, who took advantage of tinder-box conditions amid a heatwave and high winds, could face life in jail if they are convicted on murder charges, police say.

But Muller said one of the difficulties in dealing with bushfire arsonists is that a lot of them are never caught -- "so we really don't know a lot about them."

Bushfire arsonists who got their thrills from watching the efforts to control what they had started could do so from an armchair in front of the television, or by hanging around the firefighters themselves, he said.

Sometimes their obsession with fires leads them to try to sign up as volunteer firefighters, but the fire services are aware of this and have several screening mechanisms to keep them out.

The question of whether arsonists whose fires kill people felt remorse or pleasure was difficult to answer, Muller said.

"Some probably don't have a good understanding of the consequences of their own actions, but there are probably some also who don't have any real regard for their victims.

"Part of the thing with bushfire arson is that the offenders will be somewhat removed from the victims, they may not see the victims."

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