Three inmates escaped a minimum-security prison in regional Victoria by slipping out a window in the dead of night.
Billy Sperling, 25, Thomas Smith, 27, and Geoffrey Pennell, 34, escaped overnight from Beechworth Correctional Centre in the state's northeast.
Authorities believe the trio fled some time between 10.30pm on Tuesday and 12.30am on Wednesday.
"It's very early in the investigation but it looks like they escaped from a window at this stage," Senior Sergeant Garry Barton told reporters in Wodonga on Wednesday.
"If anyone, particularly in the Beechworth area, saw three people who could be prisoners or noticed anything missing from their house, contact triple-zero."
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Local police are working with the Fugitive Crime Taskforce from Melbourne and corrections staff to find them.
Corrections Victoria said the inmates' absence was noticed early on Wednesday morning.
The trio were in prison for a range of property, traffic, burglary and drug offences and are considered low-risk offenders who are not a danger to the public.
Beechworth is a minimum-security prison farm, many of its inmates nearing the end of their sentence and preparing to transition into the community, a Corrections Victoria spokesman said.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy says news of more prisoners escaping reinforces "that the Andrews government has lost its authority".
"Victorians will, yet again, be asking themselves what kind of government do we have where this occurrence every few months of people escaping from our justice system," Mr Guy said.
A government spokesman said the breach of security was unacceptable and the circumstances would be investigated.
