Five people, including two children, have died and others have been injured after a car crashed into a pub's beer garden in regional Victoria.
Emergency service crews rushed to the Royal Daylesford Hotel, northwest of Melbourne, on Sunday evening after an SUV ploughed into the beer garden.
The white BMW mounted the kerb and hit patrons, killing two men, a woman, a boy thought to be six years old and a teenage girl.
At least six others were injured, including the driver of the car, a 66-year-old Mount Macedon man.
Superintendent John Fitzpatrick said police were waiting to speak to the driver, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Crash reconstruction specialists are trying to piece together what happened but Supt Fitzpatrick said diners were eating when the car came down the hill along Albert Street and left the road.
"We don't believe that speed was excessive," he said.
A three-year-old boy was flown to the Royal Children's Hospital with critical injuries while a man, a woman and a boy have non-life-threatening injuries.
"Families have got loved ones that are no longer going to be around," Supt Fitzpatrick said.
Victoria Ambulance regional director Trevor Weston said emergency crews were confronted with a chaotic scene.
He commended the efforts of people who came to the aid of the injured until ambulance paramedics arrived.
"(Injuries were) quite traumatic for a number of those patients, particularly the four that were airlifted to hospital," he told reporters on Monday.
Daylesford was a close-knit community and some of the initial crews were from the area, he said.
"You never want to respond to any incident like this but certainly not in your home town," Mr Weston said.
Paramedics will be offered support in coming days and weeks.
"Any incident involving children is that next level of distress for our paramedics but the crews that responded last night did so professionally and provided the best care they could for all of those patients," Mr Weston said.
Hepburn Shire Mayor Brian Hood said Daylesford would have been crowded on Sunday, with many people enjoying the warm evening over the unofficial Melbourne Cup long weekend.
"This will send shock waves through the community for some time," he told ABC TV.
Police have asked the public to avoid Daylesford so emergency services can access the scene.
Premier Jacinta Allan thanked those who went to the victims' aid.
"The reports of the Daylesford car crash are horrific," she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"My thoughts are with all those injured, and with the friends and family of those who have tragically died.
"To everyone who stepped in to help, and to all the emergency service workers involved - thank you so much."
Opposition Leader John Pesutto also offered his condolences on the platform, as did federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King and state Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas, whose electorates both take in Daylesford.
Anyone who witnessed the crash or has dash cam or CCTV footage is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Australian Associated Press
