Despite doing what she could to deter him, a Melbourne teenager couldn't stop her father indecently touching her over a period of two years.

The man told his daughter, now 14, he would make it his "life's mission" to stop, but it took her reporting the matter to end his offending.

The 45-year-old man, who cannot be named, has now been jailed for six years and eight months, with a minimum of four, for two counts of committing an indecent act with a child and four counts of incest.

In sentencing on Thursday, Victorian Supreme Court Justice Lex Lasry said the father did not try hard enough to control his urges.

"Over a two-year period you exploited the trust of your child to satisfy a sexual urge you found difficult, if not impossible, to control," Justice Lasry said.

"She did what she could to resist you but she was in no position to stop you."

The man first touched his daughter's breast as they sat under a blanket watching television on the couch in 2012.

He claimed this was an accident, but weeks later, while watching television, he touched her breasts deliberately under her clothing.

His behaviour escalated from there.

He told his daughter he was sorry and would try to stop, but started touching her again after he became "overwhelmed" by the urge.

The girl started a relationship with a boy in 2014 and he became aware she was suffering.

He and his mother told the girl's mother, who went to the police.

The father then handed himself in.

Justice Lasry said the man's wife was struggling with the knowledge she had been unaware of what her husband was doing, and that the effect on the girl will be significant.

The matter, which would normally fall under the County Court's jurisdiction, was heard in the Supreme Court as it was the first sentence imposed under new provisions introduced by parliament for baseline sentences.

In this matter, Justice Lasry found the sentence should fall below the median under the new provisions as the father had made full admissions, demonstrated remorse, was of good prior character and had good prospects for rehabilitation.