Counter-terrorism police have swooped on houses linked to five Melbourne men charged over a plan to flee Australia to fight with Islamic State.
They seized evidence from at least three homes, and at one, tensions boiled over with a woman lashing out at reporters.
Islamic preacher Musa Cerantonio, Shayden Thorne, Kadir Kaya, Antonio Granata and Paul Dacre are due to face the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Thursday charged with making preparations for incursions into foreign countries to engage in hostile activities.
Federal police and the Victorian joint terrorism team executed warrants in Melbourne suburbs, including one house in West Footscray believed to belong to Cerantonio's brother.
They spent hours at the homes, scouring the back of several properties and at one, repeatedly searched a tin shed.
Police said the raids were "not linked to any increased threat or danger to the community".
But they shocked residents like West Footscray's Nora McRoberts who told AAP she saw the street she's lived in for 56 years fill with police, some taking photos, about 11.30am.
"It's a big shock, we're all unassuming people," she said.
Her street was usually quiet and "everybody minds their own business", she said.
Victoria Police and Australian Federal Police said they would not comment as the case was before the courts.
The five men were charged over the weekend with making preparations for incursions into foreign countries to engage in hostile activities, a penalty that has a maximum penalty of life in jail.
They had been arrested near Cairns a week ago towing a seven-metre boat to the tip of Cape York from where they were allegedly planning to sail to Indonesia en route to Syria to fight.
Attorney-General George Brandis told reporters on Tuesday that would-be IS fighters could not be allowed to leave the country because Australia was party to a UN Security Council resolution that bound members to stopping people crossing national borders to engage in terrorism.
Senator Brandis said preventing them travelling also stopped them being further radicalised in case they returned as an even greater danger.
A Facebook page supporting the five accused men has asked its followers to help pay for their legal fees.
The Brothers Behind Bars page, with almost 700 followers, has been set up to gather donations to help the men and "release them from the shackles of the unbelievers".
The five appeared before the Cairns Magistrates Court on Monday where the AFP successfully applied for their extradition to Victoria.
Police would not say on Tuesday if they were still in Queensland or had returned to Victoria but it is believed the men will arrive in Melbourne on Thursday on a chartered jet.
