UPDATED 9.39AM: Fire cordons in Christchurch's Port Hills are being lifted this morning to give people a few hours' access to their homes.

A steady line of cars has streamed through the cordon with anxious residents behind the wheel - some of them wearing the same clothes they fled in.

They have to midday until they're told to leave again, unless conditions change.

The allowance applies to properties on Kennedys Bush Road and Hoon Hay Road. Worsleys Road is still deemed unsafe.

The fire which started on Monday is now considered controlled, but not before destroying eleven properties, and there's still some way to go before it's fully extinguished.

Drizzly rain made it difficult for heavy vehicles to operate on the steep terrain yesterday, but incident controller Richard McNamara says temperatures should be warmer today.

"The tracks are going to dry up very quickly along with the fuel, and that's a good thing because we'll be able to easily identify the hot areas - they'll start to smoke up - and we'll be able to direct our crews directly on that," he explained.

"The attack that's operating today will be a groundhog day for our crew so they'll be out there digging out the fire. It's just hard graft - hard, hard graft."

Yesterday three cordons were reduced, allowing more residents to spend the night in their homes.

A community meeting was held yesterday to keep residents up to date on developments. Around 400 residents turned out to the meeting in which frustration and indignation was directed against emergency services officials and authorities.