Hundreds of Victorians died last week during the heatwave and there are fears the death toll could match or exceed the lives lost during the 2009 heatwave that occurred a week before the Black Saturday fires.

As doctors called for a review of how heatwaves are managed across the state, the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine said it had recorded 203 deaths between last Monday, January 13, and Sunday - double its historical weekly average of about 98. The institute works with the State Coroner to investigate reportable deaths.

The deaths, which so far amount to an average of 29 per day, far exceed the average of 19 per day recorded over two weeks during 2009's unprecedented heatwave, believed to have killed about 374 Victorians.

Director of the institute, Professor Stephen Cordner, said although it was difficult to know how many of the 203 deaths recorded last week were due to heat, many were elderly people and those vulnerable to heat-related illnesses, such as people with psychiatric and chronic diseases.