A CLEANER has had her face slashed by a knife-wielding man in a vicious random attack at Parabanks Shopping Centre at Salisbury.

The woman, aged in her 30s, suffered serious injuries to her face and back when she was set upon by the man in the centre’s public toilets just after 8pm on Monday.

She has been taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital, where she is being treated for what police have described as “non-life-threatening injuries”. The woman was in a serious but stable condition on Tuesday, an SA Health spokeswoman said.

The attacker fled the scene on foot and remains on the run.

He is described as being aged in his 30s, of caucasian appearance, clean shaven, wearing dark track suit pants with a logo on them, black shoes, and a blue beanie.

Female cleaner seriously assaulted at Parabanks Shopping Centre Female cleaner seriously assaulted at Parabanks Shopping Centre

Detective Inspector Naomi Oberscheidt said patrols had been stepped up in the area following the “concerning incident”.

“Significant resources have been deployed into the area in an attempt to locate the man,” she said.

“It is a concerning incident. We are looking for (the suspect) and we want to locate them as soon as possible.”

media_camera A CCTV grab of the man police are seeking over the vicious assault of woman at Parabanks.

media_camera A Filipino woman was attacked while she worked cleaning a toilet at the shopping centre. Picture: AAP / Mike Burton media_camera Detective Inspector Naomi Oberscheidt speaks to the media about the attack. Picture: AAP / Mike Burton

Det-Insp Oberscheidt said officers had only spoken with the victim briefly but were following a number of lines of inquiry.

“(The victim) has been spoken to briefly, however she is being cared for by staff at the hospital and we will see if we can follow up and speak with her,” she said.

“There are a number of people (witnesses) we did speak to last night … we have a number of lines of inquiry.”

The attack follows what the retail workers union, the SDA, says has been an increasing amount of violence and abuse towards staff at the shopping centre.

Parabanks Shopping Centre manager Melinda Fremlin said they were devastated by the attack.

“It is terrifying,” she said. “It is isolated incident, we’ve not had anything like this before.

“Hopefully the police catch up with the offender so it doesn’t happen again.”

She said the Filipino cleaner had worked at the centre for about four years, for a cleaning contractor.

“She is a beautiful person so it’s really sad that it has happened,” Ms Fremlin said.

She said the centre had about 12 cleaners who worked shifts. The cleaner was working a shift from 6pm-9pm on her own. While there were no other cleaners, she said the centre had security staff on at the time.

“Everyone is really close and everyone has been here for a long time so it’s really hits home,” she said.

media_camera The Parabanks shopping centre, where a female cleaner was viciously assaulted. Picture: AAP / Mike Burton

Ms Fremlin said the other cleaners at the centre were in shock.

“We are all sticking together at the moment,” she said.

“Everyone is just banding together.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or by going online.