Foot traffic through Melbourne's troubled Federation Square has dropped by around a million visitors in four years, the precinct's chief has revealed, as he called on the state government to fund the public space.

Federation Square chief Jonathan Tribe will urge the state Labor government to contribute annual funding for the square, which is currently required to fund itself.

Federation Square trader Georgia Reynolds says a drop in the number of events staged there had seen foot traffic slide. Credit:Simon Schulter

He said the future “financial sustainability” of the precinct was reliant on the government committing to ongoing funding.

Planning Minister Richard Wynne this week called the precinct "pretty sad” while announcing a review of Federation Square's future after plans to demolish a building on the site to make way for an Apple retail store were dropped following Heritage Victoria's rejection of the proposal.