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In the paper the results of the extension of previous analyses of cracking of metallic structures in creep conditions  has  been presented. A comparison  between Continuum Damage  Mechanics  (CDM)  and  Fracture  Mechanics  (FM)  was  aimed  for.  It proofed capabilities of CDM to  detect localisation of first macrocrack  and its further development until final collapse of a structure occurred. Form practical point of view it has been shown that the analysis within limited time scale is sufficient for evaluation of safety factor defined as a ratio of time of crack proliferation to time of its initiation. Thus, the fields of CDM and FM applications obtained again their firm  definition  of  practical usefulness.