Victoria's political leaders have faced death threats while a newsagent has been hit in the face as tensions mount over a bitter firefighters pay dispute.
Premier Daniel Andrews has called for calm after months of escalating tension over a deal between the state's CFA fire service and the firefighters union.
"This has gone a little bit too far. We don't want violence. We don't want threats. We don't want intimidation," he told reporters on Thursday.
"We've got stories of bullets being dropped into fundraising buckets."
A CFA member holding a donation box was reportedly given a bullet casing recently and was told it was for Mr Andrews.
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A 63-year-old man was hit in the face during a fight - allegedly over "Back the CFA" bumper stickers - in a Diamond Creek newsagency.
Police said a 51-year-old Arthurs Seat man could be charged.
Opposition leader Matthew Guy was told he needs "a f***ing knife in your throat" in a post on his Facebook page.
"A lot of people need to calm down and behave sensibly in this whole discussion," Mr Guy told reporters.
Dianne English, who volunteers at one of the 34 CFA stations that hosts both volunteer and paid firefighters, says she was abused at a supermarket for not backing the CFA volunteers.
"I nearly lost it and had to walk out," she told reporters.
"They need to calm down because it's turning really horrible out there."
Emergency services minister Jane Garrett resigned from cabinet rather than support the pay deal, while the CFA board was sacked and the chief executive also resigned.
They all believed the deal - which Mr Andrews pushed through cabinet - gave too much power to the union at the expense of the CFA's 60,000 volunteers.
Jack Rush QC, a key figure in the Black Saturday bushfires royal commission, also wrote an editorial arguing the pay deal is contrary to the CFA Act.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visited a CFA station in Geelong and again promised to use the Fair Work Act to stop the deal.
The new CFA board will put the new pay deal to employees for a vote after July 23.
