The man, who The Courier chose not to name because he avoided a conviction, faced the Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

Police prosecutor Senior Constable Sam Young said the man's friend was in a verbal argument with another man on the phone about 10.30pm on July 18, 2020.

The accused got on the phone and started threatening the victim, who was with friends at The Palais in Hepburn.

The accused's friend said to the victim 'you stay at the Palais, we are coming to f*ck you up'.

A group of eight people arrived at the Palais in a maxi cab about 11.45pm, including the accused and his friend.

The friend walked directly to the victim who was sitting on a table on the footpath outside the bar, pushed him and slapped him to the face.

The accused then grabbed the victim's collar and pushed him back onto the path, where he was surrounded by the accused and two of his friends.

The court heard the accused punched the victim to the head multiple times, a co-accused also started to punch the victim and one of them kneed him to the stomach.

"Several members of the public watched what was going on and intervened when they saw the victim being assaulted by multiple people," Senior Constable Young said.

"The witnesses were scared for their safety."

The court heard the victim did not attempt to fight back to defend himself and had a blood nose, sore jaw, swelling to the cheeks and continued to suffer headaches days later.

The incident was captured on CCTV footage.

The accused attended the Daylesford Police Station on August 27 for an interview and made full admissions.

He said he was drinking beer and wine with friends at home before the incident and said he engaged in the attack because he was being protective of his friend.

A defence lawyer said her client had shown genuine remorse and taken full accountability for his actions.

The court heard the accused was the first in the group to plead guilty to affray.

The defence lawyer said her client had never come to police attention before, was a father to a baby boy, attended TAFE and had a job.

Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt said the charge of affray was particularly serious as members of the public were forced to witness violence.

"Violence is never an appropriate response to some issue you may have with another person," he said.

"In this case you had no business becoming involved in this dispute between your friend and the victim and to join in this group of more than half a dozen people in precipitating this assault is absolutely unacceptable."

Mr Klestadt said there was a risk someone could die or be seriously injured in this type of incident.

"You could have found yourself in a cell charged with manslaughter or causing serious injury to another person," he said.

"The court must demonstrate its utmost condemnation for that behaviour in an attempt to deter people from thinking it is okay to go along and have a fight with somebody who has upset you."

The accused was fined $1500 without conviction.

"I have read the three references and heard submissions from your council and they paint a picture of a completely different person than the one who behaved in this way on the night," Mr Klestadt said.

"I am prepared to form the view that alcohol was the principal driver in your offending and I hope you have learnt a valuable lesson in being brought before the court."

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