Victoria's coroner has called for a widespread review of all family violence-related deaths after the inquest into the murder of Joy Maree Rowley.

Ms Rowley was strangled by her former partner, James Martin Mulhall, at her home in Rye in October 2011.

He is now serving a 16-year jail term for murder.

At an inquest into Ms Rowley's death, police acknowledged there were multiple times when they could have changed the course of events leading up to the murder.

It has prompted Coroner Sara Hinchey to call for Victoria Police to review all cases of family violence-related deaths where there was a known history of violence.

"It is of concern that no review of the matter occurred proximate to her death, or at all, until the coronial investigation required Victoria Police to consider the issues raised by Ms Rowley's death," Judge Hinchey said.

She said in such cases a "timely review of police performance" could help with any changes required.

The inquest heard that between February 2011 until her death eight months later, Ms Rowley had contacted police several times about violence from Mulhall.

The coroner heard police could have acted on many occasions to prevent an escalation of Mulhall's behaviour.

Mulhall was not charged over a serious assault in February 2011 when he'd choked Ms Rowley and threatened her with a knife after she had asked him to leave her house.

"I remember waking up as I was being choked," Ms Rowley told police after Mulhall attacked her.

"I remember Jimmy was yelling at me 'I'm going to kill you, you bitch, you're dead'.

"I remember begging Jimmy to stop hitting me at this point — Jimmy went and got a large knife."

'Threatened, trapped' by former partner

The court heard the failure to enter details of the attack into the police LEAP database also delayed Mulhall's arrest and the issuing of a restraining order.

After the first attack, there were contradictory police notes about whether or not Ms Rowley was in danger, stating the risk of future family violence was both "likely" and "unlikely" despite pending charges.

Ms Rowley's sister also called police to tell them how scared she was, and Ms Rowley's son told the inquest his mother felt threatened and trapped by her partner.

Despite increases in funding to family violence agencies and support services, Judge Hinchey also recommended the Victorian Government conduct regular reviews of the adequacy of services for victims.

Family violence support groups welcomed the coroner's recommendations.

The acting CEO of Women's Legal Services, Helen Matthews, said practice lapses by police officers were commonplace and stations needed to be audited.

"We suggest that the Victorian Government commission an independent evaluation of the implementation of the Code of Practice," Ms Matthews said.