The premier late Wednesday said two people had died in the inferno around the town of Pinery, some 70 km north of Adelaide.
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Mr Weatherill also confirmed at least three people who were helping fight the fire have been taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital with severe burns.
The blaze swept across more than 85 000ha of cropland, destroying numerous buildings and injuring an unspecified number of people, including firefighters, the Australian Associated Press reported.
“Even though a significant proportion of the fire perimeter is under control, and the conditions were milder overnight, many fire fronts are still active and they will continue to be battled for some days”, Weatherill said on Thursday morning.
The unconfirmed report is of a death near Freeling after a auto was reported to have hit a tree.
The Country Fire Service says the blaze is being fanned by strong winds and is moving fast.
“We’re hoping to have the fire declared contained in the next two or three days, but we’ll only do that when we’re sure there’s no prospect of breakaways”, Nettleton said.
At least 13 other people have been hospitalised, with five in a critical or serious condition with significant burns.
The SA Country Fire Service said the Pinery fire as extremely risky and issued emergency warnings for Pinery, Owen, Hamley Bridge, Freeling, Greenock, Kapunda, Tanunda and Tarlee, Kapunda, Greenock and Nuriootpa just after 4pm, saying there is a risk to lives and property.
“Members of the public are asked to remain vigilant for the potential for further damage to property and the fire remains uncontrolled”, the CFS said on its website.
Other fires are also burning at Penfield, south of the Mallala blaze, near Clare, in SA’s mid-north and near Bordertown, in the southeast.
“This has been a devastating few hours for large parts of the state and unfortunately there is some time to go until we have fire fronts under control”, Mr Weatherill said.
“It’s going to be a long haul for many of our crews”.
The blaze has claimed several homes and properties.
Weather conditions were expected to moderate on Thursday with lower temperatures and winds dropping during the day.
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Four people died in the blaze.
