In early 2018, far-right groups changed their main message as experts believe far-right groups began targeting African crime, with gangs as their focus. While the groups have relatively low support and are insignificant when it comes to impacting policy, various political statements, some media reporting and extreme tactics used by the groups helps explain the airtime they receive. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video As does the fact that Erikson and Cottrell are based in Victoria. Erikson believes their notoriety stems from being under "siege" in Victoria.

"Nationalist groups are the strongest in Victoria and are more active than interstate because Victoria is so far left, meaning you get a counter ideology coming back," he said. "The more they [the left] push the more we push back in Victoria," he said. "I have been doing this for 15 years and we had more people coming to protests after the Lindt siege." He said those espousing neo-Nazi symbols and salutes on Saturday at St Kilda do not help their cause, but claimed they were doing so to "troll the left". "They try to do the most offensive thing ... they weren't Nazis in my opinion," he said.

Online Hate Prevention Insitute chief executive and La Trobe Law School senior lecturer Dr Andre Oboler believes far-right groups will increase publicity efforts leading into Australia Day and then towards the 2019 federal election. Erikson said more protests were being planned. "They exist all over Australia but are loudest in Victoria, but they're not strong," Dr Oboler said. "Although protests happen in Melbourne a number of them attend from interstate, and that's always been the case. "There's a few right-wing leaders [Cottrell and Erikson] who are based in Victoria who are trying to activate their networks here and their activities on things that are local to them. That's why they make so much noise in Victoria."

Online radialisation expert Emeritus Professor Andrew Jakubowicz from the University of Sydney agreed far-right groups were not strong or significant, but that they still easily attracted attention in Victoria. "The tolerance and diversity that Victoria is used to gives these characters the space they might not have elsewhere," Professor Jakubowicz said. Far-right activists in St Kilda on Saturday. Credit:Darrian Traynor Flemington and Kensington Legal Centre chief executive Anthony Kelly pointed the finger at politicians who he said hadn't been strong enough in denouncing far-right sentiment in Australia. "There was a nexus between the rhetoric from politicians in the lead up to the Victorian election, to what the media covered and then to what the white nat groups said. They all fed into each other," Mr Kelly said.

"In January 2018 we saw a lot of the online crime groups that were infiltrated by far-right supporters pressure politicians and police to 'admit' there were African gangs. "Journalists took that on board and wanted to get police and politicians to say the phrase and eventually that worked despite the police's reluctance." Debbie Brennan is an organiser for the group Radical Women, and she helped set up the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism. Ms Brennan was a counter protester at St Kilda on Saturday and said Victoria's strong protest history gave rise to far-right resistance. "The far-right and fascist little grouplets have been trying to build a toehold in Victoria," she said. "This state, historically, has been very organised via the left and the union movement and movements generally like LGBTQI advocacy and Indigenous Australians.