The Royal Hotel in Daylesford. Photo: Google Maps
Investigators will today continue piecing together the events that led to a horrific crash in the regional Victorian town of Daylesford, which killed five people.
Emergency crews were called to the Royal Hotel in Daylesford just after 6pm on Sunday after a car drove through the pub's beer garden.
Police said four people died at the scene, including a boy aged about six, two men and a woman.
A girl who police described as being aged between 12 and 16 later died in hospital.
In total, four people were flown to Melbourne hospitals, including a boy who is in a serious but stable condition, and three others were taken to Ballarat and Melbourne hospitals by road.
The driver, a 66-year-old Mount Macedon man, was among those in hospital. Police on Sunday night said they had not yet been able to speak to him.
Superintendent John Fitzpatrick said investigations overnight and into the morning would shed more light on the chain of events.
"There's a whole range of things that we need to do to try and establish what's occurred," he said, in an update provided just after 11pm on Sunday.
"Later this morning we'll have a much better understanding of how this has occurred … the speeds and what really happened."
Superintendent Fitzpatrick said he expected the scene to be closed until at least 10am on Monday.
He said police were seeking relevant CCTV and dashcam footage, and urged anyone with information to contact investigators.
Police describe 'absolutely horrible' scene
Superintendent Fitzpatrick said the scene was particularly confronting and that support would be offered to emergency crews that attended.
"I haven't seen something this drastic for a long time," he said.
"It's absolutely horrible. It's families that have loved ones that are no longer going to be around."
Witnesses described chaos in the aftermath of the crash.
"It was a nightmare, it was horrendous," Daylesford resident Rhonda White said.
Superintendent Fitzpatrick said six other people had died on the roads this weekend and urged motorists to take care.
"For a long weekend when people are out trying to enjoy themselves, it's a horrible thing to have to see," he said.
Daylesford is a picturesque town less than an hour-and-half's drive north-west of Melbourne and is a popular day-trip location.
* This story was first published on the ABC