Rodney Phillips and Sam Liszczak??? were in a stolen four-wheel-drive when one of them shot at First Constable Ben Ashmole with a shotgun from about 4.5 metres in Moonee Ponds in the early hours of July 7, 2015.

Phillips, 25, and Liszczak, 23, were on Tuesday respectively jailed for eight years and seven years and 10 months. Those sentences were condemned as inadequate outside the Supreme Court by Sergeant Wayne Gatt, the secretary of the Police Association, and First Constable Ashmole's mother.

"Our justice system is in crisis when somebody can receive a seven-to-eight-year sentence for shooting at police who are just doing their job," Sergeant Gatt said.

"It's little wonder that our members grow more and more disillusioned by the day when sentences like this are handed out that don't accurately reflect the totality of what's happening out there, the risk to our members and by extension the broader community."

Sergeant Gatt said irrespective of the lesser charges being laid, Justice Michael Croucher had options to impose a tougher penalty. "I think all of our members will be outraged by this and all of the community will be too," he said.

A large number of detectives from the armed crime squad were also at court.

First Constable Ashmole's mother, Sharen??? Joy, who recalled the anguish of learning her son had been shot, was "disgusted" by the sentence, and hoped the community would take a stand and support its police. Doubling the jail terms would have been more appropriate, she said.

"To think that two people chose to shoot because they [the police] were doing their job, and to be given four years, that is not my son's worth," Ms Joy said, as her son stood behind her.

"Two more little spots and he could be dead; I could be mourning my son."

First Constable Ashmole, who was 18 months into the job, ducked when he saw the shotgun, but was hit in the back of the head. Surgeons removed three pellets, but another 11 remain in his head, and the scars are still visible. His partner, Senior Constable Tom Wospil???, was uninjured and applied first aid at the scene.

Phillips and Liszczak had been released from jail just days before and had targeted the homes of Carl Williams' ex-wife, Roberta, and his father, George, when the two police officers, who were in a marked patrol car, saw the four-wheel-drive and followed it to a dead-end street, where it performed a U-turn and drove past the police car.

In jail, Liszczak was a friend of Matthew Johnson, who murdered Carl Williams in 2010.

Phillips and Liszczak were arrested a fortnight after the shooting and charged with attempted murder. But, after discussions with prosecutors, they pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court last month to the lesser charges of recklessly causing injury and reckless conduct endangering life.

Recklessly causing injury carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, one-fifth of the maximum for attempted murder.

Phillips' jail term was longer than Liszczak's because of his more serious past offending.

The pair shook hands before the sentencing and hugged afterwards. Both smiled at police in court - including the two officers who were shot at - as they were led into custody. "See ya when I see ya," Liszczak told both Phillips and his grandparents.

Outside court, First Constable Ashmole said he had endured sleepless nights, was now more cautious in his work and had contemplated quitting the force. Asked about the penalties, he said: "Considering the charges they were looking at based on the evidence we had, it is what it is."

Justice Croucher said he believed the four years' jail he imposed on the charge of recklessly causing injury was the highest for that charge in Victoria. He said the offending had to be denounced, and the decision to fire at police was "gratuitous, disturbing and nasty".

"Police have a hard enough job as it is, but to be subjected to such frightening violence is unacceptable," he said.

Phillips and Liszczak also pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted arson, and single counts of theft, arson, criminal damage and possessing a firearm while a prohibited person, related to the attacks on the Williams homes.

On July 5, 2015, the court heard, the pair threw Molotov cocktails at homes in Broadmeadows and Essendon, but had targeted the wrong addresses.

Two days later, they shot at a fence outside George Williams' home and were driving towards Roberta Williams' home when First Constable Ashmole and Senior Constable Wospil - parked nearby Roberta's home - saw the 4WD and followed.

Investigators could not determine which man fired the shotgun. Afterwards, the pair torched the 4WD in Coburg North.

After Liszczak's arrest, police found home-made "missing posters" in his home depicting Carl and Roberta Williams.

Phillips' mother was this month shot by an unknown gunman in Glenroy.

Justice Croucher said the chances of rehabilitation for both men were poor given their lack of remorse and criminal histories dating back to their teenage years. But he said it was in the community's best interests that they had some incentive to reform because they would be released one day.