The Pentecostal CityLife Church is in negotiations with government development authority Places Victoria to build in the inner-city suburb.

But population data shows Christians are significantly underrepresented in Docklands, prompting renewed calls for the place of worship to be a multi-faith centre open to a range of religions.

In 2011 the neighbourhood's Pentecostal population was a tiny 0.4 per cent - just 32 people according to the latest population data.

If this trend continues, Melbourne's biggest church would probably have to bus in its congregation to achieve a packed Sunday service.

The data has revealed many of Docklands' residents do not have religious beliefs and Buddhists (6.1 per cent) and Hindus (5.3 per cent) were the only two religious groups that saw bigger populations compared with the rest of the city.

A senior research officer with the Christian Research Association, Philip Hughes, has analysed the data and concluded that Docklands' place of worship should not be confined to one religion or denomination.

"It would certainly seem to be appropriate to provide for the religious needs of the diversity, but I'm not sure CityLife can provide that," Dr Hughes said.

"I'm sure they would create a viable congregation but my point is that it won't provide for the needs of many people in that area."

At the beginning of the tender process, the Faith Communities Council of Victoria pushed for the multi-faith model, pitching a seven-day centre at the Footscray Road site to accommodate an array of religions and community activities.

The council's chairman, Murray Davies, said it had imagined hosting Muslims for Friday prayers, Jews on Saturdays, Christians throughout Sunday and Buddhists and Hindus during the rest of the week.

But it withdrew its tender because it could not come up with the funds within the "tight" deadline imposed by Places Victoria.

Mr Davies said the committee would still like to build the centre if it could have six months to get another partner on board.

Docklands restaurateur Ethan Chaikijkosi, a Thai Buddhist, said a multi-faith centre would bring a sense of community and be somewhere people could learn from each other.

With no temple at present, the owner of the Pok Pok Street Food restaurant in Bourke Street said it was hard to find a quiet place to pray in Docklands; he worships in Box Hill.

''For me, if I feel down or I feel uncomfortable, when you go to a certain place, it lifts up your spirit,'' he said.

''You release whatever bad energy and absorb the good energy and you get on with your life."

A spokesperson from Places Victoria said it was a requirement for bidders of a single denomination to demonstrate their facility could be used by groups of other faiths for a range of purposes other than religious ceremonies such as youth groups and fundraising events.

“An open-market process was undertaken to ensure all religious groups had fair opportunity to submit a proposal for a place of worship,” they said.

The spokesperson said the successful bidder would have to purchase the land set aside for the place of worship.