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A number of crews are being stood down from fire fronts today as the cooler weather set in.
Four major fires covering more than 400,000 hectares no longer pose a threat, but are being closely watched.
The Emergency Services Commissioner, Bruce Esplin, says it is now safe for people to return to communities they left at the height of the alert.
"There's an opportunity for the people of Victoria to start their process of grieving, start their process of rebuilding without the ever present threat of fire," he said.
Mr Esplin says people from 78 communities affected by the fires can now start to rebuild.
"Victorian communities have been dealing with a major effort of fighting heatwaves fires and latterly the wind storms of yesterday and the night before," he said.
Mike Goode of the Department of Sustainability and Environment says fire crews have earned a rest.
"The crews have put in a lot of hard work. They will be feeling tired and to have the rain come down and take the pressure off them is fantastic," he said.
But Mr Goode says the remaining fires will need to be monitored.
"There may well be some burning edges and hotspots within the fire perimeter that we'll have to keep a very close eye on for a few weeks," he said.
At least 210 people died in the fires and more than 2,000 properties were razed.
Just thought I'd spread the info. that a customer just gave me about the Prom.
He said that because the burn was slower, many animals had a chance to escape. Wallabies are coming out of the woodwork. Most wombats and echidnas survived underground. Many kangaroos were able to flee before the front. The rains have started new growth.
Half of it was burnt, but because they were able to slow it somewhat the consequences weren't as bad as they might have been.
The Prom was reopened today.
