Victoria Police has denied claims it was not adequately prepared to deal with a brawl involving about 200 people that broke out inside a Melbourne music venue and spilled into the streets of the inner suburb of Collingwood on Sunday night.

Seven people were injured after a the fight broke out inside the Gasometer Hotel on Smith Street at about 2:45am during the launch of a record label.

The brawl spilled out onto nearby Mater Street as patrons left the venue.

At the same time a car crashed into parked cars and pinned a man to another vehicle on Mater St, not far from the scene of the fight.

The18-year-old from Fitzroy suffered serious injuries to his legs.

One man was arrested and spoke to police but has since been released.

The pedestrian who was hit by the car sustained serious leg injuries. ( ABC News )

Despite knowing there was a "significant risk of violence" Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt said members were told the response to the event would be "business as usual".

"We understand that our local members raised concerns about their safety prior to this event … and they were concerned about the number of resources on hand to deal with this," he said.

"Members said they asked for additional resources and were told it would be business as usual."

Acting Deputy Commissioner Bob Hill said police knew about the event in advance, liaised with the organisers and venue operator and advised that it should be called off.

But the owners of the hotel got legal advice and decided to go ahead anyway , though they continued to liaise with police about the arrangements.

"We had police visit inside the venue. Our presence was well known and seen by those inside the venue. We in fact arrested a person for drunkenness outside the venue," Acting Deputy Commissioner Hill said.

"To suggest Victoria Police was not prepared for this event, to suggest that our rostering wasn't adequate, to suggest we've got a no-arrest policy is absolutely nonsense."

Acting Deputy Commissioner Hill said police attended "in numbers" within seconds of receiving the call about the fight and were confronted by a "very large hostile group."

They quickly scattered when police arrived and the priority was to attend to the seven people who were injured.

"Our focus was dealing with and attending to those that were injured and trying to work out what had actually happened," he said.

"Police did, in the early stages, endeavour to apprehend some of those persons but we were not able to do so."

Up to 200 people were leaving the Gasometer Hotel when the fight broke out. ( ABC News )

He also confirmed the Fitzroy man injured by the car was linked to the death of 19-year-old Melbourne woman Laa Chol who was killed in an altercation at a party in a short-stay apartment in Melbourne in July.

"The only linkage we have... was [that] the victim of the car crash was a witness to that particular murder [case]," he said.

'But there is absolutely no evidence to suggest this was some sort of revenge attack."

Victoria 'clearly has a law and order problem': PM

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The Gasometer Hotel posted on Facebook that the events of the weekend had been "deeply upsetting" and it was cooperating with police.

Interviewed on ABC Radio Melbourne, Police Minister Lisa Neville defended the police response and rejected suggestions that police were reluctant to arrest offenders.

"I have not been in a situation where I have confronted 200 young people who are violent. Victoria Police… that's what they do, this is their bread and butter and we have to trust them in their judgements," she said.

"There are a range of ways which tasking happens and tasking happens at a local level and that's something the chief commissioner will need to have a look at.

"But there is nothing that would suggest on that evening that arresting 200 people right then and there was going to necessarily be the safest or the best outcome."

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Victoria had "a law and order problem", echoing similar comments made by his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.



"We have the highest proportion of Sudanese population in New South Wales. We don't have these problems in New South Wales," Mr Morrison told 3AW.

"They're not happening in other cities, why is it happening in Melbourne?"

Opposition promises to create crime prevention minister

The Coalition today promised to reinstate the crime prevention portfolio, with a budget of $38 million, if it is elected in November.

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the Andrews Government had scrapped the portfolio, but the past 48 hours had shown there was a law and order crisis in the state.

He said a Coalition Government's approach to crime prevention would include better design and lighting in parks and laneways, more CCTV, community engagement and funding for neighbourhood watch and victims' groups.

"Victorians in November have a simple question to ask themselves. Do they feel safer, is our state safer than it was when Daniel Andrews was elected," he said.

"The simple answer is no, it's not."

Detectives are urging anyone who witnessed the event or has information to contact Crime Stoppers.

Editor's Note (4/9/18): The original version of this story reported that during the press conference, police revealed the man injured in the car incident had had his leg amputated. Victoria Police issued a correction the following day saying the information provided by them was wrong and he did not have his leg amputated. The story has been amended to reflect this.