Emergency services have resumed their search for the body of a fourth person they believe died when a light plane crashed in waters off Barwon Heads on Friday.
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Four people were on board the light plane when it took off from Moorabbin Airport and then crashed about two kilometres off Collendina Beach, between Barwon Heads and Point Lonsdale, about 12.30pm.
Three bodies were found on Friday, but have not been identified, and emergency crews are searching for the fourth person, also presumed dead.
Police say a 68-year-old Noble Park man, a 55-year-old Mordialloc man and a 65-year-old man and 63-year-old woman, both of Black Rock, were on board.
Victoria Police and the State Emergency Service are conducting a land search along the coast near the crash site, where debris has started to wash ashore, while the Volunteer Coast Guard boats are assisting the search in water near the HMAS Canberra dive site.
"Our boat went out at about 8 o'clock and is currently out there doing lines searches," Volunteer Coast Guard Australia spokeswoman Deanne Semmens said.
"They've got good visibility and the sea is calm out there, so it's perfect conditions to be doing a search."
A fisherman saw the plane go down and alerted emergency services, Geelong Inspector Graham Banks said on Friday.
"He was in a boat and he went out and observed that clearly a plane had impacted the water and dispersed over a wide area and there were three persons that were clearly deceased at that time," Inspector Banks said.
The witness, who was within a kilometre of the crash, heard the roar of the plane's engine before seeing it plunge sideways into the water.
Another fisherman described following an oil slick in the ocean before locating the wreckage, which had sunk to the bottom. He, and others, volunteered to help with grid searches to locate parts of the wreckage.
Police would not reveal where the plane was headed to. There was no distress call made by the aircraft – a six-seater Piper PA-28 Cherokee built in 1967 and first registered in Australia a year later.
The current owner first registered the plane seven years ago.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating what caused the crash.
