A homeless man who used a shopping trolley to fend off a knife-wielding attacker as he stabbed at police in Melbourne has been rewarded by grateful citizens who have donated more than A$50,000 (£28,000) to help him.

Michael Rogers, nicknamed “trolley man” on social media, repeatedly tried to hold off the alleged attacker, Hassan Khalif Shire Ali, who was lunging at police and had earlier stabbed three people, one fatally, in the attack on Friday.

His actions were filmed by witnesses, and local media and a charity tracked him down afterwards to get his story.

“I have seen the trolley to the side, so I’ve picked it up and I ran and threw the trolley straight at him. Got him but didn’t get him down,” Rogers told Channel Seven. “And I did that motion about… quite a number of times, but it just wasn’t getting him down,” he said.

Rogers’ reaction was made even more remarkable as he was metres away from a vehicle containing gas cylinders that the attacker had set alight.

He was quickly lauded on social media. Donna Stolzenberg, the founder of the Melbourne Homeless Collective charity, started a fundraising page on GoFundMe to help the homeless man.

“As a person he just deserves it,” she told Reuters by telephone from Melbourne. By Sunday evening, it had raised more than A$52,000, exceeding its original goal of A$45,000.

Stolzenberg said Rogers was going to need a lot of support, including making sure nobody takes advantage of him.

“This funding is growing and may grow further,” she said. “Michael is experiencing homelessness and probably hasn’t had much experience with large sums of money.”

Stolzenberg said her organisation would also help him to find housing and organise trauma support.

Reuters was unable to contact Rogers.