Masked intruders stormed this Cairnlea home early on Friday morning. Credit:Zach Hope

Four men in balaclavas stormed a family home and repeatedly stabbed a man during a terrifying home invasion in Melbourne's north-west.

The gang broke through the locked front door of the Cairnlea unit, on Station Road, about 2.50am on Friday when they were confronted by the man who was home with his family – a 33-year-old woman and three children aged five, 16 and 17.

The 50-year-old victim tried to fight off the intruders and was stabbed multiple times in the torso. He was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious condition. The woman and children were not hurt.

"The family are understandably quite shaken by what's happened," Detective Senior Constable Kane Treloar said. "They're spending some time with him now in hospital."