After spooky photos surfaced of the four-metre predator nestled deep in the dilapidated grounds of the Wildlife Wonderland park in Bass, Victoria, local police took to social media to warn the public against taking a peek for themselves.

“PLEASE KEEP AWAY,” police urged in a post on the Eyewatch – Bass Coast Police Service Area Facebook page on Friday.

View photos A monster great white shark is preserved and floating in tank at an abandoned wildlife centre. Photo: Caters More

“Police are aware of a great white shark floating in a tank of formaldehyde in an abandoned location in Bass.

“We understand that numerous members of the public are attending the site to visit the shark.

Please be advised that this location is on private property so we advise the public not to attend the area,” the force wrote on the online statement.

“You run the risk of being charged with trespassing offences.”

View photos The tank is filled with formaldehyde, a chemical preservative that can cause severe burns and breathing problems to humans exposed to it. Photo: Caters More

The warning came after urban explorer Luke McPherson, 31, opened a window into the once-bustling business he visited as a child, which is now succumbing to ruin.

As if its post-apocalyptic condition is not sinister enough, the venue was allegedly forced to shut up shop in 2012 out of animal welfare concerns.

The tank is filled with formaldehyde, a chemical preservative that can cause severe burns and breathing problems to humans exposed to it.

View photos Urban explorer Luke McPherson, 31, opened a window into the once-bustling business he visited as a child. Photo: Caters More

The shark died in a fishing net in 1998 and was kept in the tank until the park was shut down in 2012 by the Department of Sustainability and Environment.

Mr McPherson’s pictures of the beast captured the imagination of the internet, with millions of views and comments from over the plant.

– with Caters