The number was originally thought to be much higher until Primary Industry department officers discovered that an 80-year-old man with a hip replacement managed to get 1000 sheep out of a paddock before the blaze hit.

Fuelled by strong winds and temperatures in the high 30s, it didn't take long for the fire on Fish River Rd property, 'Jessmondeen', 75km northwest of Goulburn, to sweep through three-quarters of its grazing land and onto four other properties, burning 2000 hectares in its path.

Some 50 tankers with a 150-strong crew, five fixed-wing aircraft out of Cowra and a helicopter, battled several wind changes from the time the blaze broke out at lunchtime to its control later that evening.

From 'Jessmondeen', owned by Robert Rich, the blaze raced south in a line parallel with the Lachlan River, towards the Boorowa Rd and west of Fish River Rd.

At one point, wind pushed it across the Boorowa Rd but crews were able to contain the blaze in that direction.

'Jessmondeen' was unoccupied at the time of the outbreak, according to police.

Zone operations officer for the Rural Fire Service's Southern Tablelands area, Ian Kennerley said the fire was declared a section 41 outbreak, qualifying for extra State-paid assistance with aircraft.

Yesterday the Goulburn Mulwaree RFS were still waiting on arrival of a fire investigation team to establish the cause.

The fire also burnt out grazing land on four other properties in the Narrawa district - 'Burrawinda', 'Moorabinda' and 'Bindawalla'.

'Hollywood', owned by Narrawa fire chief Les Hewitt also suffered damage, however there were no stock losses.

The Rodger family lost 315 breeding ewes when fire tore through half of their 600ha (1500 acres) Fish River Rd property, 'Burrawinda'.

'Moorabinda', owned by the Kensit family, lost 40 breeding ewes, according to the Primary Industries department.

Locals put the total stock losses closer to 700. Goulburn Police said Crookwell officers helped destroy about 300 sheep on Sunday.

Regional director of agriculture Ann Muir said two officers were assessing stock losses on Monday while a vet and two Rural Lands Protection Board officers helped destroy injured sheep and bury the animals.

Ms Muir said while the Department of Primary Industries could assist with fodder in the short-term or provide emergency assistance, none of the property owners she had spoken to had asked for help at this stage.

Mr Kennerley said crews worked extremely hard to save houses.

"At one stage we were in full structural protection mode. We had to leave the fire to run its course after being hit by a wind shift," he said.

"There was an awful lot of work done and full credit must go to the firefighters that it didn't burn more."

Twenty-two crews continued to patrol the area, backburn and lop smouldering trees on Monday and Tuesday.

Mr Kennerley said the fire had been fuelled by a large amount of phalaris grass in the area and it was an "extremely timely" warning for people to clear around their houses and properties.

RFS crews quickly doused a fire that destroyed a small area off Granger Rd, about 25km south of Goulburn at 7pm on Sunday. A lightning strike started the blaze, amid a fierce windstorm that ripped through the area.

Crews attended another fire on Granger Rd yesterday at about 11.30am.