A HUNTER who plunged to his death when a helicopter rescue mission turned to tragedy was a 68-year-old man from Sydney.

Police search and rescue teams arrived at the scene of the tragedy near Lake Eildon about 10am today to retrieve the man's body.

The victim, from Riverwood in Sydney's southwest, was being winched to an ambulance chopper after sustaining a broken ankle when he fell.

Next of kin have been notified but his name has not been released.

The man plunged 30m to his death when the helicopter rescue mission failed.

A Macs Cove resident, who declined to be named, said helicopters began buzzing over the tiny hamlet about 11am and didn't stop until nightfall.

"We knew very little about what was happening but we knew it had to be something major," he said.

"It is something you would never contemplate.

"The rescuers will never get over it. "

Another said : "It makes you feel sick."

The victim, who had a broken ankle, was being lifted to an ambulance chopper near Lake Eildon.

Four inquiries were under way into the death in bushland at Macs Cove.

Ambulance Victoria air-winching operations were suspended statewide after the incident.

The helicopter flew 100km from Melbourne after the stricken man's hunting partner called for help.

The victim, who weighed well over 100kg, was being winched upright with a paramedic in a "strop" harness during the operation about 12.30pm.

Ambulance Victoria CEO Greg Sassella said the dead man was near the helicopter when he fell.

"The person was being winched into the helicopter by a paramedic and close to, or at the helicopter, he fell to his death," Mr Sassella said.

Mr Sassella said in such operations the helicopter will hover and a paramedic will go down to examine the patient.

The patient is then connected to a lifting device and winched with the ambulance officer.

The twin-jet chopper used at Macs Cove remained at the scene.

It is believed there is no early indication equipment failure caused the accident.

WorkSafe officials were at the site and police will prepare a report for the Coroner.

Ambulance Victoria will run its own internal inquiry, and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority is also investigating.

Mr Sassella, who spent five years as an air paramedic, said such rescues were high risk.

"If something goes wrong it often has dire consequences," he said.

Mr Sassella said everyone involved in the tragedy - a pilot, crewman and paramedic - would be devastated and had been offered counselling.

"This is tragic, they spend their whole lives risking their lives to help people, they were trying to help this person and do their best and something has gone astray and that's distressing to the crew and of course to the family," he said.

Macs Cove, near the shores of Lake Eildon, is a popular tourist spot of mostly holiday homes.

A woman who lives in the area said an air ambulance helicopter and two police helicopters landed in a vacant block behind her property.

"They didn't discuss what had happened," she said.

"They just said, 'It was a fatality. We've had better days'. They really didn't talk to us. It's not our place to know.

"These guys do a marvellous job. I have the highest regard for them.

"The poor buggers. They've had a bad day."

- with Mark Buttler, Annika Smethurst, Amelia Harris