MELBOURNE: A naked man in Australia was left embarrassed after he got stuck in a washing machine while hiding in it to surprise his girlfriend and had to be rescued by the police who greased him up with olive oil.

The man, from Mooropna, north of Melbourne, had climbed naked into the washer on Saturday to wait for his partner to come home, but he became firmly wedged.

"He was trying to surprise his missus and became stuck," Sergeant Tim Gleeson said.

Firefighters, paramedics and Shepparton Search and Rescue Squad came to the man's rescue.

It took officers 20 minutes to free the man, with olive oil eventually proving the trick, 'Herald Sun' reported.

"They greased him up until he was free," Gleeson said. "It was just a game gone wrong. It would be fair to say the gentleman was very embarrassed," added Shepparton police Sergeant Michelle De Araugo.

The incident is similar to the story of an 11-year-old American girl that went viral on the weekend.

The girl was trapped in a washing machine for 90 minutes while playing hide and seek with her cousins at her home in Salt Lake City, Utah.