The conflict on Wednesday involved weapons between rival groups forcing Northland Mall to ban the sale of machetes in Victoria starting Wednesday after it locked down weapons on weekends.

Prime Minister Jacinta Allan announced on Monday that the government will use extraordinary powers to quickly carry out the machete ban, which will remain until the permanent law takes effect on September 1.

"In Victoria, community safety is number one. We must never let the places we encounter become places we worry about," Allen said.

“I hate these knives and I will continue to introduce as many laws as possible to get them out of our streets, out of shops and life.”

Allan described the so-called Northland incident as “shocking” and said “the reason why someone wants to come in and ruin the family, the retail workers is incredible”, many of whom may be young people working part-time.

"It is unacceptable to destroy people's lives on Sunday afternoons," she said.

“We took immediate action to strengthen the first Australian machete ban we introduced in Victoria to further stifle the supply of these dangerous weapons.”

She also noted an incident occurred in South Melbourne on Saturday during which police arrested a man who allegedly drove towards them, armed with a machete, hit one of the officers and fixed it to the wall.

In response, the officer fired a gun at the vehicle and attacked the female driver who died at the scene. Her male passenger was also injured.

Allen said the government first announced plans to ban machetes in March, but at the time, Victoria Police recommended that the six-month implementation period be the "safeiest" and "fastest" method.

"It took Britain 18 months to ban machetes," she said. "That's not a time frame that the government can accept."

She said she introduced the powers obtained under Commonwealth consumer law that allowed a minister of state to temporarily ban certain goods after the incident on Sunday.

Consumer Affairs Secretary Nick Staikos said this is the first time these powers have been used to ban machetes.

"This is actually the first ban on selling machetes anywhere in Australia, which follows the government's decision to implement the first ban on having machetes anywhere in Australia," he said.

“We are leveraging any powers that are owned by Australian consumer law to immediately prohibit the sale and supply of machetes.”

He said Victoria's Consumer Affairs will establish a working group to ensure compliance with the interim ban.

It will take effect from 12pm on Wednesday and applies to machetes broadly defined as "a knife with a cutting blade exceeding 20 cm." It does not include knives that are mainly used in kitchens.

Staikos said there was no exemption to allow the sale of machetes during the interim ban because the Australian consumption law does not allow this.

Allan acknowledged that this would affect some machetes’ "legal users", but she said she puts community safety first.

The retailer was told to remove the machete from store shelves and store excess inventory in a safe location until the amnesty program began on September 1.

From then on, machetes will be classified as a prohibited weapon in Victoria. The exemption applies only to legal uses, such as agricultural work.

The amnesty period takes place from September 1 to November 30, allowing Victorians to surrender safely at 40 designated police stations across the state without facing fines.

After the amnesty, anyone found possessing a machete could face two years in prison or a fine of more than $47,000.