Marysville survivor Christine Adams

Image © 2012 AAP One / Paul Jeffers

Flags on Victorian government buildings are flying at half-mast to commemorate the third anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfires.

Premier Ted Baillieu said the flags would fly at half-mast until midday (AEDT) on Tuesday, when a minute's silence will also be observed in government offices.

In Parliament, on its first sitting day for the year, a minute of silence will be held at 2pm as MPs use its opening to also acknowledge those affected by the February 7, 2009 bushfires, which killed 173 people.

Mr Baillieu said the government would continue to stand by those still in need.

"We will never ever forget it, the consequences of those bushfires and we will never let go in supporting those who have suffered," he told reporters in Melbourne.

"Obviously the horror of it is still fresh for many people and our hearts go out to them today."

He urged everyone living in the recovering communities, or who know someone affected, to reach out "with a word of comfort and a smile of hope".

Deputy Premier Peter Ryan recalled being turned back on the highway on his way to Melbourne from Sale on the day of the bushfires.

Back at his home in Gippsland he began receiving reports about the devastation they were wreaking.

"I suppose the most awful of them, was that late that evening I did receive a call to the effect that, as the expression was used, Marysville was gone," he told reporters on Tuesday.

"It was a terrible, terrible day, a terrible day, a shocking chapter in the history of Victoria."

He said the 173 people who died would be remembered on the third anniversary, as would their families and loved ones.

"Those who, to differing degrees, continue to grapple with the events of that terrible occasion.

"For many, they will never recover, for others it will be a generational issue.

"For many, many others, as the premier and I saw on Sunday when we attended events in Gippsland and here in Melbourne, people are gradually stepping their way through it."