Second earthquake in two days hits south-west

A magnitude 3.7 earthquake has been recorded at Apollo Bay at 1.17pm on Monday.

It occurred after Warrnambool residents felt tremors after a 5.0 magnitude earthquake hit Apollo Bay at 2.11am on Sunday morning.

The Bureau of Meteorology advised aftershocks may occur.

Apollo Bay Surf and Kayak owner Quinn Matthews said he felt the second tremor on Monday.

"I did feel it but it wasn't as strong as on Sunday," Mr Matthews said.

He grew up in Apollo Bay and said Sunday's incident was the first earthquake he had experienced.

"I believe there have been a few over the years but this is the first one I've experienced," Mr Matthews said.

He said he hadn't heard of any damage to properties in the town.

Update: 11.15am Sunday: The magnitude 5.0 magnitude earthquake that hit Apollo Bay was the largest in the area since 1981.

Geoscience Australia senior duty seismologist Hugh Glanville said about 5000 reports of people feeling tremors had been reported.

He said it was common for tremors to be felt within a 400-500 kilometre radius of an earthquake.

"There are active fault lines in that area and there have been 14 earthquakes in the past 10 years," Mr Glanville said.

He said there was a 3.6 magnitude aftershock earthquake at 5.44am on Sunday and there were 300 reports of people feeling tremors from it.

Mr Glanville said he believed there were a few reports of some minor damage from the earthquake.

Earlier: A number of Warrnambool residents have reported feeling the tremors of an earthquake near Apollo Bay.

Geoscience Australia revealed the 5.0 magnitude earthquake hit around 2.11am.

It was initially reported as a 4.7 magnitude.

"We have revised up the magnitude from 4.7 to 5.0. An aftershock of 3.5 was also detected in the area a short time ago," Geoscience said in a Facebook post.

There had been almost 4000 reports of people feeling tremors to Geoscience Australia early Sunday morning.

"Woke me up - my whole house was shaking in Koroit," Brett Sanderson wrote on The Standard's Facebook page.

Jessica Crawley-Walsh said she also felt it in Warrnambool.

"Everything was shaking and could hear the and feel the earth rumbling too ... lasted about five seconds or so," she said.

Gemma Gill said she feared someone had broken into her house.

"I felt the bed shaking, got scared as hell and yelled out several times 'hello. Who's is my room? My mind went straight o the idea that someone broke in and are now standing at the end of bed shaking it," she wrote.

"Absolutely, it woke me up. My bed shook quite heavily," Anita Senior wrote.

Member for Polwarth Richard Riordan, who lives in Colac, said he was alerted to the tremor by his wife.

"My wife elbowed me and asked 'what's that? I assumed it was the wind'," Mr Riordan said.

He said his daughter, who was also in the house, said her bed shook.

Mr Riordan said he believed there were items that fell off supermarket shelves in Apollo Bay and one house in Colac had some damage.

"I think it would be the most significant one - if not one of - we've ever had," he said.

"The good thing is it appears no one was injured but I would encourage people to check their properties."

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