The data, from the Crime Statistics Agency, reveals there was a 67.5 per cent increase in family violence incidents reported to police (per 100,000 population) in the quarter from April to June 2020 - during the first lockdown - compared to the same period in 2019.

There were 550.8 recorded family violence incidents in Ballarat during this period, compared to 328.8 in 2019.

Ballarat experienced a bigger surge than all other local government areas except for Indigo. In comparison with other large regional cities, Greater Geelong experienced a 12.1 per cent increase and Greater Bendigo a 3.5 per cent increase.

Around Ballarat, there were also increases in Moorabool Shire (13.8 per cent) and Golden Plains Shire (10.4 per cent), while incident rates decreased in both Hepburn and Pyrenees Shires.

The Central Highlands Family Violence Investigation Unit's Detective Senior Sergeant Tony Coxall said there were significant increases in the number of family violence incidents reported to police in the latter part of March and April, which then spiked in May - when restrictions started to ease.

"We saw about a 10 week period where we had a significant increase," he said, noting that while there was an increase in incidents, there was not a significant increase in the severity of incidents.

Detective Senior Sergeant Coxall said the cause of the family violence incidents during this period could be linked to the "shock" of COVID-19 restrictions and the accompanying isolation - stresses being felt across the community as a result of the pandemic.

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"When we are looking at the causation of these family violence incidents, we have seen increased causation around deteriorating mental health - consistent with financial stress, employment stress and isolation."

During this period, Detective Senior Sergeant Coxall said there was a "massive increase" in the number of incidents involving youth, with the introduction of learning from home.

There was also a significant increase in the number of third-party reports, with more people at home hearing or witnessing incidents they may not have previously.

Detective Senior Sergeant Coxall said the unit saw the increase in third-party reports as a positive, as incidents were reported that police otherwise might not have been aware of.

While police expected the number of family violence incidents to "continue to rise and spike like a pressure cooker", the number of incidents reported to police has stabilised during the last few months.

"For the last two to three months we've started to see that there's a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel and things have normalised," he said.

There was a small increase in reported family violence incidents around Grand Final weekend, but sadly, this occurs every year.

With expected increased alcohol consumption, extra detectives were rostered to work that weekend, as the increase is consistent across a number of crime themes.

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While the rate of reported incidents to police has normalised, support services are continuing to experience strong demand.

Berry Street receives referrals from police, victim survivors themselves and other services and demand has been strong all year - especially with the numbers of victim-survivors seeking support for the first time.

Denise O'Dowd, senior manager of family violence (western region) at Berry Street, said it had been challenging to address the complexity of situations that have arisen this year, including helping to support people who needed to leave their homes for safety reasons.

She said services worked closely in this region to address family violence and there was also a heightened awareness of the issue throughout the region.

This could have played a part in the spike of police reports, particularly with the number of third-party reports - such as from neighbours - that were made.

While more women have been self-referring to the service in recent months, it is feared there could be another spike in family violence incidents during the Christmas period and with continued financial stress.