The Ballarat woman died in December, aged in her 40s, with a rare liver cancer. She requested her Grevillea Road house in Wendouree be sold with all proceeds gifted to the Austin Hospital, where she was treated, to boost the health services' cancer research program.

Her house was sold via an online auction at $480,000, which was $80,000 above the reserve price on Saturday afternoon.

Ballarat tradespeople, including Ballarat Groundswork landscaping and R&N Elite Painting, and other community members chipped in, donating their time, to freshen-up and prepare the house for sale.

The team from Barry Plant Real Estate's Ballarat branch did a lot of painting indoors, on the decking and with tiles, while offering their services free of charge, including experienced Melbourne-based auctioneer Mark Lynch and online auction platform Anywhere Auctions.

Barry Plant agent Josh Coull there were plenty of nervous people hoping for the best for sale in circumstances unlike any they had experienced before.

Mr Coull said everyone was affected by cancer in some way and this auction tapped into a realness of wanting to help find a cure.

"Everyone we generally asked for help said said yes straight away," Mr Coull said. "We're very pleased with the result, it's high above what we had hoped for, and I understand the family is very pleased too."

The Courier understands the woman who owned the house had lived a life of great service to others. The Courier has chosen not to name the woman due to the family's wishes.

The home had been set for auction earlier this month and was postponed to Saturday due to lockdowns. With the state still in lockdown, Mr Coull said the Barry Plant team considered other options because they did not want to delay the sale further.

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Mr Coull said auctions did not traditionally have a high success rate in Ballarat, compared to Melbourne, but the market was changing.

Online auctions was not something Barry Plant would normally do for Ballarat but this case was special.

There were eight registered bidders on Saturday afternoon with a further two making bids via phone.

Bidding started slowly but soon heat up.

The Courier understands the successful bidder was a Melbourne-based buyer.

Austin Health research involves a mix of hospital departments, university programs and independent research institutions, across wide-ranging fields including cancer. More: austin.org.au/research.

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