Three people have been charged in Melbourne following a spate of brazen daylight carjackings that saw vehicles damaged and people dragged from their cars.

A police manhunt was launched after numerous incidents across the city's eastern suburbs in recent days.

In one incident, a woman was dragged from her car in Ivanhoe, reportedly at gunpoint, before the carjacker fled, then switched vehicles by carjacking another driver at the Chadstone shopping centre car park, police said.

Police later linked the stolen cars to multiple minor crashes as the carjacker raced through the eastern and southern suburbs.

In another incident, police allege a car was followed until it stopped in Yuong Court in Lalor, where the five people in the car were assaulted and had their phones and wallets stolen.