The City of Melbourne is continuing its sweep to remove campers illegally set up in the CBD, as international visitors arrive for the Australian Open tennis.

Council officers, flanked by Victoria Police officers, this morning advised about a dozen homeless people living outside Flinders Street Station to move on.

But the group returned about an hour later, bringing their bedding and belongings.

On Tuesday, police and the council removed a camp set up underneath Sandridge Bridge which links the CBD to Southbank.

While it is not illegal to be homeless or sleep rough on the streets of Melbourne, it is illegal to camp in a public place.

Police clear an area outside Flinders Street Station where homeless people have been camping. ( ABC News: Karen Percy )

City of Melbourne said it was conducting routine clean-up operations and denied any connection with the Australian Open.

"There is no link between our routine and ongoing clean-up operations and any major events occurring in the city," it said.

"Melbourne is Australia's sporting capital and events capital and events occur here on a regular basis."

"City of Melbourne Officers regularly monitor sites that are known to be used by people sleeping rough as a place for shelter, and ensure the areas are kept tidy and do not become detrimental to public amenity or safety."

It said it had recently removed abandoned belongings such as doonas, milk crates and rubbish at Sandridge Bridge, Bourke Street and Swanston Street.

A group of about 10 homeless protesters was broken up by council workers at Melbourne's City Square in May last year.

The protesters had makeshift shelter tarps and sleeping bags to demonstrate against the lack of housing resources and reports that homeless people had been aggressive towards passers-by.

After council workers cleaned up an area outside Flinders Street Station, homeless people move back. ( ABC News: Joanna Crothers )

'Where am I going to go?'

Jason Smith, 42, has been living on the streets near Flinders Street Station after losing his job.

"Where am I going to go?" he said before council workers arrived.

Jason Smith says he does not know where he would go if he was moved on from Flinders Street. ( ABC News: Karen Percy )

Daniel Mithen, 35, has been homeless for almost 20 years.

"I made some bad decisions," he said.

For the past three weeks he has been sleeping out on Flinders St, before that he was living in a CBD carpark.

An anonymous donor dropped off fruit, vegetables and bread for the homeless people before the clean-up.

Camps a reminder of lack of affordable housing, charity says

The Salvation Army's Major Brendan Nottle said camps popped up spasmodically around the city.

Daniel Mithen, 35, has been homeless for almost 20 years. ( ABC News: Karen Percy )

"Sometimes it's only one or two people, but the difficulty begins when those camps start to grow," he said.

"There have been camps around the city that have anywhere up to 10 to 15 people staying at them and that becomes a problem, particularly for people trying to access surrounding businesses and also trying to move down the footpath."

Major Nottle said it was a powerful reminder of a lack of affordable housing.

We need to steel our resolve even further and do everything we possibly can to try to get access to housing so we can get people off the streets and get them into accommodation which has all the supports that they need to get them back on their feet."

The council said support services such as not-for-profit agency Launch Housing and the Salvation Army had been working with those experiencing homelessness in the CBD to link them with services and accommodation.

The removal comes as Launch Housing struck a deal with VicRoads to place transportable housing on vacant land in Footscray and Maidstone to provide accommodation to people sleeping rough.