"She is quite an experienced paramedic and she felt quite comfortable at the time, she had built a rapport with the patient. Very suddenly and without anything to initiate it, he lashed out and put her in a headlock and punched her in the face." Mr Hill said her male partner who was in the front seat tried to pull him off the woman, however, the offender allegedly then assaulted him as well. "They both have scratches and abrasions on their arms," he said. "Bystanders were there and opened the door and assisted and I think they were able to physically restrain him." A second paramedic crew administered a sedative and took the man to The Royal Melbourne Hospital in a stable condition.

The man was taken to hospital for assessment and will be interviewed at a later time, police said. Ambulance Victoria chief executive Tony Walker. Credit:Amy Paton Both paramedics were also assessed and did not need to go to hospital, however, Mr Hill said both were shaken. "She's physically quite sore, bruised and is going to the doctor as she has concerns about loose teeth. More than anything she is incredibly shaken up and distressed, and feels sick about it." The CEO of Ambulance Victoria, Tony Walker, told 3AW Radio the drug-affected person had "suddenly launched and physically attacked" the woman, punching her repeatedly in the face.

"It's just disgusting... we have seen a reduction in cases of injuries over the last 12 months with some of the work we are doing, but they still happen. This was a brutal assault of a young female paramedic just doing her job." He described the attack as "brutal and sickening" and said he had also been told the man had returned from Rainbow Serpent festival. "We've heard that he may have been at a music festival ... I don't know if he was at Rainbow Serpent, I heard that he may have been. It will form part of the police investigation," he told reporters on Wednesday. "I'd be speculating, but my understanding was that he'd been using illicit drugs at Rainbow Serpent festival for some days. It's not uncommon that people take some time to come down from those drugs and act quite erratically and without common sense in the days after. I suspect that's probably what occurred." The attack comes after a state government crackdown that put violent attacks on emergency services workers in the same category of offences as murder and rape.

Victorian paramedics have been protesting since two women escaped a jail term for bashing their colleague after an appeal. Credit:Jason South The announcement followed a spate of violent assaults on emergency service workers last year, and widespread outrage over the quashing of a jail term on appeal for two women who assaulted paramedic Paul Judd in 2016. Mr Walker said he wanted the man to be jailed. "This legislation was put in place for exactly this reason," he said. "One of our paramedics came to work to do their job ... and has been assaulted. I expect the full force of the law will be applied in this case."

Mr Hill said the union was also troubled by the attack. "We are furious about it, it's really disturbing to hear one of our members has been so severely assaulted, there were no clues this would occur." He said the alleged offender was in hospital and hadn't yet been interviewed. He said the paramedics were being offered counselling. "It was one of the most savage and brutal attacks we've seen in recent times," he said. "I think it will stay with them for the rest of their careers. My expectation is that the full force of the new legislation will be applied to this individual ... nothing less would be appropriate given the circumstances."