Victoria Police have set up a special taskforce to investigate the broader aspects of the death of convicted murderer Carl Williams at Barwon Prison.
Police have decided his death is too serious for a straightforward homicide inquiry, amid allegations of police and prison corruption and Williams' alleged involvement in other murder cases.
"It is clear that the murder of Carl Williams has potentially wide ranging implications beyond the obvious," police deputy commissioner Ken Jones told reporters.
"Taskforce Driver led by Superintendent Doug Fryer has been created to address this.
"I've told Superintendent Fryer to leave no stone unturned and to follow the evidence and intelligence, wherever that takes him."
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A Barwon Prison inmate has been charged with murdering Williams.
Union stands by prison guards
Earlier, the union representing Barwon prison officers strongly defended its members and lashed out at the media for whipping up hysteria following Williams' murder.
A spokesman for the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) said it was disgusted crime scene information had been leaked to the media and used to peddle misinformation.
"The union is disgusted that crime scene information can so easily be put into the public domain to misrepresent the facts and heighten hysteria around a serious crime," the spokesman, calling for leaks to be investigated.
The head of Victoria's prisons also defended the staff amid claims Williams lay dying in his prison cell for 20 to 25 minutes before he was found by guards.
The gangland killer was bashed in Barwon Prison's top security Acacia unit at lunchtime on Monday in an unsupervised room.
Newspaper reports claim Williams was then dragged to his cell by his attacker before he and another inmate alerted unaware prison guards more than 20 minutes later, according to AAP.
Victorian corrections commissioner Bob Hastings would not comment on the reports, saying the matter would be examined as part of three separate investigations.
"The staff have reacted as well as they could have and done the right thing," he told ABC Radio.
The CPSU spokesman said the union was confident the prison officers had acted appropriately.
The CPSU was "extremely constrained" in what it could say but felt compelled to comment because of the leaking of information it said was being reported as fact.
"Prison officers are highly trained and followed all emergency procedures," the spokesman said.
"Officers responded as they've been trained to respond and the union was confident that officers had acted appropriately."
