A family of six, including three children, hid in terror in a bedroom as a gang of thugs burgled a Springvale house early on Sunday.

Police believe four or five offenders broke a front window of the Heather Grove home at about 1.45am.

A man who heard the break-in fled to a rear bedroom with his wife, three children and father-in-law, locked the door and huddled there until the thieves drove off in the family's two cars.

The aggravated burglary sparked outrage and despair on social media, with posts complaining about rising crime rates and soft police and government response.

The white Audi four-wheel drive stolen from the house was later found abandoned on Leonard Avenue, Noble Park.