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Armed police raided a swingers party and shot two people said to be having sex while dressed as the Joker from the Batman film and Harley Quinn from the Suicide Squad.

But the nightclub venue have accused police of overreacting, saying the "male victim was not holding anything in his hand" following claims he had a gun and say he had a registered a toy gun as part of his costume.

Police reportedly said they received multiple reports that a man, 35, was armed with a gun in an upstairs room at Inflation nightclub in Melbourne, Australia, before 3am yesterday.

However, there are reports the weapon was a toy gun to go with his costume.

Police shot the man, hitting him in the torso, after he allegedly pulled out a gun and was later tasered, news.com.au reports.

(Image: 9 News) (Image: 9 News)

The club claims it has held events similar to the Saints and Sinners event for 20 years without any incident.

About 100 people attended the party.

Victoria Police Superintendent Lisa Hardeman said local arrived first but members of the Critical Incident Response team devised a plan.

“Police called on the male, the male took the firearm from his pants and aimed it at police,” she said.

“A number of shots were fired.

“A number of police options were used after he was shot.”

The couple were attending the “no holds barred extravaganza of adult fun” when the incident occurred while they were having sex, The Sun reports.

The club yesterday posted on Facebook saying "management + staff are shaken by what could of been avoided if the Police cared to listen."

Club owner Martha Tsamis added to the club's Facebook page: "Participants are generally older adults who come in costume and engage with each other in adult fantasies.

"The outfits and accessories are always shown to security as a condition of entry.

"Security verified that a plastic toy accessory was displayed to, and passed by security and this information was given to police on arrival.

"No patron at the event came to us to inform our staff or security of this concern but apparently made an anonymous triple zero call to police.

(Image: Reuters)

"Staff and security have vehemently stated that at no time did they make a call to police for assistance, or indeed, saw the need to.

"Security had no concerns prior to the incident, and advised police on attendance that they were more than happy to deal with any issues.

"But police rejected this advice, stormed in, fired 3 shots, and a Taser, with the outcome being 2 people suffering from serious gunshot wounds.

"Venue staff have stated that the male victim was not holding anything in his hand but rather he was in a compromising position with his female partner, which is a normal activity with the nature of this event.

"Obviously, this matter will require further investigation but on the evidence available to us, police have over re-acted to an anonymous phone call, ignored the advice of security who did not believe there was no incident that required anything more than clarification.

(Image: ABC News)

"As a consequence, two (2) innocent members of the public innocently enjoying each other’s company have suffered serious gunshot injuries and it is extremely fortunate that there no fatalities.

"Inflation has been the victim of many past false and malicious anonymous complaints in recent years including, only last week, a false, drug related, triple zero allegation against the venue’s head of security.

"The head of security was strip searched by police in full public view at the front of premises and he was extremely upset at this blatant breach of his privacy and the indignity he suffered. Of course they found NOTHING."

The clubs says it had now lodged a formal complaint with the Chief Commissioner of Police.