But first, the ageing power station would be decommissioned, a process that would take about one year.

Hazelwood asset manager Tony Innocenzi pledged that the mine's owner and operator, Engie, would not "shy away" from its safety commitments after the power station stopped producing electricity at the end of this month.

"Our priority is to make the site safe, safer than what it is today. And to be honest, the closure process will make it safer than what it is today," he said.

The meeting heard that Engie faces costs, on current estimates, of more than $700 million for the decommissioning and demolition of the power station, and rehabilitation of the vast coal mine near the southern edge of the Morwell township.

Engie came in for fierce criticism from some people at the meeting, including one man who blasted the company for not closing the power station in a staged fashion over several years.

Don Duthie, a Morwell resident for 64 years, said the total closure of Hazelwood would smash the Latrobe Valley.

"This is going to be like a sledge-hammer," he said.

"I hope everybody here wakes up to that fact, because that's what it's going to be like, it's going to hit like a sledge-hammer," he said.

"It's going to cause massive problems throughout Latrobe Valley and Victoria," he said.

Another man told the meeting that the community thought there would be a staged closure.

"I think the people in the room feel a bit disrespected by Engie. We all thought there would be a staged closure," he said.

But others thanked Engie for holding the meeting and for being transparent.

Mr Innocenzi opened his address by acknowledging that the closure of Hazelwood would affect the community.

"It's clearly something that was a shock to a large number of people. I want to assure you that the decision itself was not made lightly by the Engie board, or the Mitsui board, and it wasn't for the lack of trying on behalf of the Hazelwood management team to look for a way forward, a positive way forward," he said.

Mr Innocenzi said the decision to close "has major ramifications on our people and the community. And I understand that personally. Personally, I wish there was a better way forward. It's not the way that I wanted to end my career in the power industry...This is not what I expected. And I suspect it's not what our people or the community expected".

The meeting also heard:

• Hazelwood is the highest baseload cost operator in Victorian market
• Post-closure there would be about 135 people directly employed by Engie, and about 100 contractor staff working at the site
• There is "quite an extensive amount of asbestos on the Hazelwood site".

Mr Innocenzi told the meeting that for the ageing power station to continue operating, it would need many hundreds of millions of dollars of spending. The mine also would need hundreds of millions of dollars in spending.

Asked about the future of Hazelwood workers, he expressed confidence that Engie would soon formalise its involvement in a worker transfer scheme, under which redundant Hazelwood workers could be redeployed to other power stations.

"I'm confident it's something (that) will be achieved in a relatively short period of time," he said.

Some Hazelwood staff had already moved to the Loy Yang B power station, which Engie also owns.

Mine director Garry Wilkinson said the final rehabilitation and closure plan for the mine would take some years to finalise, "given the size of the operation. It's in excess of 20 kilometres if you took a run around the lip of the mine. It's a significant hole in the ground".

Closing the meeting, Mr Innocenzi said: "I feel the pain, I feel the concern...It's not a good position we're in, but ultimately, the owners of the company have decided that it will close."

After the meeting Nick Aberle, from Environment Victoria, said: "It is encouraging that Engie is providing clear information to the community about their process for after Hazelwood's closure. The decommissioning and rehabilitation work, together with redeploying workers to other power stations, means that there should be ongoing work for most of Hazelwood's current workforce for some years to come, which is a great result."

Dr Aberle also said: "The key will be ensuring that Engie abides by its promise to seek meaningful public input and to deliver really positive rehabilitation outcomes for the community."