Police are describing two of Australia's most wanted men, Mark and Gino Stocco, as modern day bushrangers.

The father-and-son pair have been on the run from Queensland and NSW police for eight years but the hunt for them escalated when they allegedly shot at officers in Wagga Wagga on Friday.

Mark and Gino Stocco

Heavily armed police are continuing to look for the men in an area between Melbourne and Victoria's northeast, in and around Yea, St James, Wangaratta and Bairnsdale, with specialist NSW police patrolling the border.

Victoria's Assistant Commissioner Rick Nugent said on Saturday Gino, 58, and Mark Stocco, 35, were clocking up hundreds of kilometres to avoid being caught.