Assistant Commissioner of Crime Dannye Moloney said after four months of investigations, police were "completely satisfied'' the February 7 fire that destroyed about 50 homes and threatened the city of Bendigo was arson.

"The sad part about this of course is that there was one life lost in that fire, in excess of 160 buildings were destroyed, many people put into fear, a whole community put into fear, and millions and millions of (dollars worth of) damage was caused," he said.

Mr Kane, 48, who walked with a leg brace, was overcome by flames on Black Saturday at his home in Long Gully, on the outskirts of Bendigo, in front of his of his sister Jillian and wife Carol.

Mr Moloney said Mr Kane's family had been kept up to date with the investigation and knew the fire was being treated as suspicious.

Police have interviewed a number of "persons of interest" about where they were on the day but have not released a description of a suspect or suspects.

Mr Moloney said because the investigation was ongoing he could not reveal how police believe the fire was started.

"If you look at the environment on that day 45km/h winds, the temperature, and the conditions of the environment, anybody who lit a fire there would cause maximum damage," he said.

Two women who were the first to report the fire burning in a grassed area outside of Bendigo arrived at the Eaglehawk CFA station within minutes of each other about 4.30pm on February 7.

Following a police appeal, one of the women made a statement to police and Mr Moloney pleaded with the second woman to contact police.

"It is so important that this person comes forward. These people are witnesses, there's nothing to suspect they were involved of course but these are the initial people that saw the fire commence," he said.

Taskforce Phoenix investigators have taken more than 2600 statements in relation to the Black Saturday fires with the number expected to grow to more than 4000 during the next 12 months.