Police and SES search for a mobile phone along Collins Street on Friday. Credit:Jesse Marlow He said the bouncers carried the injured 25-year-old man back to the corner of Little Collins and Queen streets where they left him bleeding. "They actually picked the victim up...and carried him a distance of [about] 50 metres back toward the CQ bar and left him in an alcove on the corner of Little Collins and Queen Street. Why they did that I don't know at this time," Sergeant Dean said. The victim, from South Melbourne, is understood to have suffered stab wounds to the abdomen and was taken to The Alfred hospital in a serious but stable condition. A third man - a bystander on Collins Street - was also assaulted by the bouncers after they spotted him filming the altercation, Sergeant Dean said.

Police at the corner of Queen and Collins streets. Credit:Vanessa Desloires The bouncers took the bystander's phone, he said. State Emergency Service volunteers were at the scene on Friday morning searching Queen and Collins streets for the missing mobile phone and other potential weapons. CQ nightclub on Queen Street. Credit:Vanessa Desloires A pocketknife was handed to police soon after the incident.

The bouncer who allegedly stabbed the man has been questioned by police, but has so far been "uncooperative". "He's started to make a statement with police and he's been non-cooperative," Sergeant Dean said. The operators of the nightclub are providing police with the names of their security personnel, he said. No charges have been laid. Sergeant Dean strongly urged the other bouncers involved in the incident to come forward.

"I'll be suggesting to the people involved in the main assault [that they] may want to contact police before we come looking for them," he said. "The victim who caused all this, his actions were not on, however the reaction that unfolded after that, is completely and utterly over the top. "Police should have been called initially. That is what their job is." Sergeant Dean said it appeared the alleged attackers had unjustly taken the law into their own hands. "It's like a pack mentally, that's all I can put it down to," he said.

The incident was captured on CCTV cameras and the footage will be reviewed by police. A taxi driver, who is understood to have pulled over on Queen Street during the attack, is among several potential witnesses urged to contact police.

It was the second bloody incident to occur in the CBD on Thursday night. Another bouncer was stabbed and two others were injured after a nightclub brawl spilled onto Swanston Street.

Detective Senior Constable Ales Brgoc said two men assaulted two bouncers after they were thrown out of a nightclub, believed to be The Toff in Town, about 10.13pm. The bouncers, aged 27 and 36, suffered minor facial injuries but did not require medical treatment. The offenders left the area, but one returned shortly after and stabbed another bouncer in the back. The attacker ran from the scene shortly before 11pm. He is yet to be identified, but has been described as being in his late 30s, with a solid build. He was wearing a blue or purple t-shirt and jeans.

Senior Constable Brgoc said police had obtained "very good" CCTV footage of the incident. The injured bouncer, a 29-year-old man from North Melbourne, was taken to The Alfred hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Detective Brgoc described the attack as "cowardly". "[The offender has] approached the security guard [who] wasn't even involved in the initial ejection; he had his back turned so he's had no opportunity to even defend himself," he said. "This male has approached him without hesitation and plunged this knife into his back."

Sergeant Dean said the Swanston Street incident was not related to the later stabbing on Collins Street. Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.