The girl, who remained in a stable condition in hospital on Monday afternoon, suffered several stab wounds to her abdomen and upper torso. She had allegedly been attacked near a playground outside her home in an enclosed set of units in Mitchell Park, 15 kilometres from the city's centre. Police and paramedics were called to the scene about 3pm on Sunday.

Ty Ranger, a 23-year-old from Wendouree who is not related to the girl was arrested on Sunday afternoon and charged on Monday with attempted murder, intentionally causing serious injury, child stealing, false imprisonment and assault.

It was the first time Mr Ranger had been in custody and he has no criminal history, his lawyer Mike Wardell told the Ballarat Magistrates Court on Monday afternoon.

Mr Ranger, wearing a forensic-style blue jumpsuit , asked the policeman guarding him in the dock to help him stand up at the end of proceedings, and apologised to the officer after he appeared to lose balance.

Mr Wardell said there would be a "wealth" of issues for Mr Ranger while he's in custody due to his condition and vulnerability.

He did not make an application for bail.

He asked Magistrate Cynthia Toose, who noted his risk of self-harm, that his client's condition be assessed, though he was not on any medication.

Mr Ranger nodded to Ms Toose to indicate he understood proceedings, bowing to her slowly as he left the court after his case was adjourned until February 11.

Meanwhile, Madison's mother Samantha Hastings kept a bedside vigil in the Ballarat Base Hospital.

Ms Hastings said in a Facebook post on Monday that she was struggling to understand why anyone would harm her eldest child.

"Why would anyone hurt my baby girl," she wrote.

Her fiance, Madison's step-father Jaymz Stares described Madison as a happy and bright young girl.

"She has a bright smile full of happiness [and] always wanted to go out and play with her friends on the playground and ride bikes together like any other happy kid," he told Fairfax Media.

Mr Stares said he reacted to the stabbing like "any father would".

"No one would expect their five-year-old angel would get hurt so bad playing outside of her house like every other child has done growing up," he said.

The Hastings lived in a unit opposite Mr Ranger's, with the playground in between.

Fairfax Media understands the girl was a client of Centacare, a Catholic welfare provider which supports struggling families.

"We're really concerned for the wellbeing of the family and the child especially," local Centacare chief executive David Beaver said.

"We are putting in place support for the family and especially for the little girl, which we can't go into now, and we are planning support for the other residents here."

Mr Beaver said Centacare acted liked a normal landlord for the units, converted into rental accommodation under the  National Rental Affordability Scheme to respond to a shortage of affordable housing.

"Anyone who meets an income level can rent these properties," he said.

"We would have in here a mix of people in employment, for example there are some nurses, young couples looking for work, people on disability pensions and young mothers."

He said police had only been called four times in the past two years to the same tenant who has since moved on.

Tenants in the block of units expressed disbelief that Mr Ranger had been charged over the crime.

Ross Ward said Mr Ranger was not an aggressive person "at all" and his condition made simple tasks like holding a mobile phone difficult. He said Mr Ranger spent "80 per cent of his time" in a wheelchair.

"He can't even coordinate his phone, he drops it every few minutes when he's using it," Mr Ward said.

"We have no idea how he would be capable [of stabbing]."

Mr Ranger was known in the Ballarat community after thousands of dollars were raised to support him after his old unit had caught fire in September.

Mr Ward said Madison was a polite and happy child who was well-known to the residents.

"She's such a lovely, lovely girl. She's so fully of energy, she's so happy," he said.

Most tenants heard nothing of the incident until police arrived on Sunday afternoon, though one neighbour, Yvette Hodges, heard the sound of a young girl or woman screaming at 2.30pm that day.

With The Ballarat Courier