A heroic jewellery store manager shielded his colleagues from armed robbers who shoved a gun in his face before he pushed them out the door of the upmarket Toorak shop.

"I don't see myself as brave," the manager told Fairfax Media. "You do what you have to do."

The manager of IMP jewellery, who did not wish to be named, did not think twice about standing up to the three men despite having a gun pointed in his face on Tuesday morning.

"There was no way I was going to open the safe," he said.