Weather hampers Vic power restoration

Electricity companies are battling tough weather conditions as they continue to restore power to almost 19,000 properties throughout Victoria.

Winds of up to 140km/h have lashed the state, bringing down trees and damaging powerlines with more than 150,000 homes and businesses experiencing outages early on Tuesday.

That number had fallen to about 18,900 by late afternoon but energy providers say strong winds and rain continued to hamper efforts to restore power to some customers.

A Jemena spokeswoman said 3500 customers in Melbourne's inner west and north remained without power.

"It feels like every time we get some up, the winds take more down," she said.

She said the majority of its customers could expect to have their power restored by Tuesday evening.

SP AusNet spokesman Jonathan Geddes said 6000 properties remained without power in its region in eastern Victoria on Tuesday afternoon.

CityPower and Powercor reported about 4900 customers without power and United Energy reported 4500.

Mr Geddes urged people to stay away from any fallen power lines.

"It's very important that they don't (go near powerlines) because they still could be live," he said.

State Emergency Service (SES) crews were called to about 3500 jobs overnight Monday and into Tuesday, with fallen trees causing much of the damage.

The Altona, Frankston and Wyndham areas were among the worst hit areas in greater Melbourne, SES spokesman Toby Borella said.

"Fairly widespread, lots of trees down, lots of traffic hazards, lots of building damage as well, as a result of these damaging winds," he told AAP.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Andrea Peace said the strongest wind gust of 142km/h was recorded at Fawkner Beacon in Port Phillip Bay.

She said the winds hit Melbourne between about midnight and 1.30am on Tuesday, with strong gusts also recorded at St Kilda, where winds reached 120km/h.

The worst of the wind was over for now, but some strong gusts will be felt on Wednesday, she said.