A man was forced to tread water for two hours after his 53-year-old friend drowned in calm conditions in a fishing tragedy south-east of Melbourne.
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The two men were found floating in the 13-degree waters, with one of the men already dead.
The man and a friend set off in a fishing boat from Tooradin, about 57 kilometres from Melbourne, on Sunday morning.
Senior Constable Adam West said a passing boat located the pair in the water between French Island and Tooradin around 3.20am.
They were brought to shore at Hastings, with the surviving man from Tooradin suffering hypothermia.
Senior Constable West said police believed one of the men, who was from Koo Wee Rup, went near the edge of the boat and fell into the water.
"The other man jumped in to save the man but was unsuccessful," he said.
Victoria Police spokeswoman Creina O'Grady said the two men were found floating in the water, with one of the men already deceased.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Stewart said there was no evidence of strong winds in that part of Western Port on Sunday morning.
Mr Stewart said their closest observations were at Cerberus, 32 kilometre south-west and on Rhyll, Phillip Island, about 71 kilometre in the same direction.
He said conditions around Tooradin would be very similar to what their observations were showing at these two locations.
"Cerberus was actually indicating calm conditions right through that period," Mr Stewart said.
"Winds were very light, not strong enough to even register on the gauge."
He said the strongest speed at Rhyll were averaging [up to] 3 knots, which is not much at all.
"It was gusting around 5 knots which is only less than 10 km/h.
"Very light winds."
Mr Stewart said the air temperature at Rhyll was around 10 degrees, while Cerberus was cooler at 6 degrees.
"Outside Port Philip Heads, which we imagine would be not that dissimilar to what the water temperature would be in Western Port, ...indications are temperatures were ...13 degrees," he said.
Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman Lisa Hind said the surviving man was taken to Frankston hospital in a stable condition after treading water for around two hours.
Police will prepare a report for the coroner.
