The road had opened to tourist traffic for Easter and Anzac Day but authorities had initially said the clean-up after the Harrietville and Alpine fires would extend beyond winter.

Member for Benalla Bill Sykes said the opening of the road and the report into the Harrietville fire, which was released yesterday, were a chance for the region to move on.

“The Victorian Fire Services Commissioner is an independent person who assessed all the available information and drew his own conclusions,” he said.

“He identified the key questions asked by the community and has undertaken investigations of each of the claims and made his findings.

“So let’s get on with the recovery — already there’s been a tremendous bounce back in terms of visitation, and from a government perspective we’ve done a number of things to encourage that.”

VicRoads regional director North Eastern Victoria Graham Freestone said the Great Alpine Road between Harrietville and the Dargo High Plains Road would be opened at 4pm allowing unrestricted access to Mount Hotham from Harrietville.

“We have removed dead and hazardous trees to reduce the risk of them falling onto the road once the wet weather sets in and after winter we will reassess and may have to undertake more tree clearing,” he said.

“We thank the communities for their patience and support.”