The map was released on Friday morning, with proponent AusNet Services beginning to contact landholders in the area of interest.

About 250 landholders, out of the 460 in the area of interest, are included along the route.

It follows the existing high-voltage overhead powerline easement from Bulgana, near Ararat, east to Waubra, before moving north-east and east to Tourello and Glendonald.

SEE THE MAP HERE:

There are two options at Kingston around the Hepburn Lagoon, before connecting to a proposed terminal station north of Newlyn.

From there, the 500kv line will go south past Dean, turn south-east to head north of the freeway past Gordon, Ballan, and Pykes Creek.

There are also two options north and south of the Melton Aerodrome, with the line connecting to the Sydenham terminal station.

Detailed maps are available online through the AusNet website.

Opposition group Stop AusNet's Towers, which is organising community meetings along the length of the project, has condemned the route.

"Today's announcement comes as a bitter message to the community who have opposed this project from day one. AusNet have not listened or acted upon the vast concerns brought to them by the community and businesses," chair Emma Muir said in a statement.

"It is essentially a straight line that delivers the cheapest option for AusNet but the most impactful and dangerous option for the community.

"We are taking legal action to fight AusNet and AEMO (the Australian Energy Market Operator). This project must be reassessed and put underground."

Tourello farmer Katherine Myers said the map shows the route crossing two of her paddocks, including one left quarantined for future early generation potato seeds.

"We've only just bought the irrigators to go down there, to set it up as irrigated potato country into the future, and that's put a stop to it," she said.

"It's really cut to people's hearts and affected people's emotional wellbeing, people have felt so powerless, so anxious and uncertain, that it's not something you can get on top of emotionally."

She said opposition groups will join councils in helping landowners prepare submissions for the EES when it's released.

"No one knows this land and the impact of these transmission lines like this community," she said.

"We'll be really working hard with the councils to make sure we can get as many people involved in those as possible to make submissions to the EES so the impact of these towers can be really heard and felt."

The company also announced a "preliminary report" into an underground option for the powerlines, concluding it would cost 16 times as much and would not provide enough grid capacity.

Placing the line fully or partially underground is being looked at as part of the project's ongoing Environmental Effects Statement study.

"The investigation has found that undergrounding the transmission line would require significant soil and vegetation removal and disturbance of Aboriginal cultural heritage, would limit opportunities for future renewable development, not meet the technical availability and reliability requirements of the electricity system, and cost approximately 16 times more. As a result, overhead construction has been recommended by the investigation," according to an AusNet media release.

Ms Myers said it was "gutting" to read undergrounding was no longer an option.

READ MORE: Western Victoria Transmission Network Project: Opposition groups continue public protests

"They're confirming they're using a 20th century technology to solve a 21st century problem," she said.

Moorabool and Hepburn shire councils attacked the lack of underground option - Moorabool Shire had commissioned its own independent report into undergrounding the lines, finding it would be feasible.

"Council is seeking peer review by independent experts of the report's findings," Moorabool mayor Tom Sullivan said in a statement.

"While it is understood that AusNet has investigated underground, it is incredibly disappointing that council was not invited to provide input into their exploration of underground options, and that there was no opportunity to do so prior to the proposed route being announced.

"The Moorabool community is resilient, but with the impacts of COVID-19 and now entering the Christmas period, the news of transmission towers will be a significant blow.

"Council would like to again encourage decision makers to listen to the people and provide for renewable energy outcomes that do not carry unacceptable burdens for all rural communities, city centres, and all of Victoria."

Hepburn Shire Council mayor Tim Drylie said council is "strongly opposed to the proposed route and the size and location of the terminal station" near Newlyn.

"We are extremely disappointed at the lack of transparency and poor community consultation with this project and we are calling for a full review by the State Government, and we understand the announcement will be very concerning for members of our community," he said in a statement.

"While Council is highly supportive of renewable energy, our clean energy future must be based on trust with community and we are strongly opposed to the transmission lines being above ground and along the route proposed.

"It will have a significant impact on our valuable agricultural land, significant landscapes and the health and wellbeing of local people. The proposed lines will also impact tourism, a significant part of our local economy, by diminishing overall amenity and the visitor experience."

Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano said in a statement any impacted members should get in touch for support.

"Today will be a difficult day for farmers along the identified route of this project," she said.

"We continue to be concerned about plans for a substation in the middle of prime agricultural land and the potential for the substation to attract future transmission infrastructure to the local area."

Both sides of federal politics have urged AusNet to find a different route - Ballarat MP Catherine King she would continue to advocate "for a better option".

"This has been an incredibly long process and I know a lot of communities and families across our region will be having another very tough day today," she said in a statement.

"It's simple, AusNet has not worked closely enough with landholders and communities in determining this route.

"It's not just direct landholders who will lose out because of this project, it is their neighbours too."

The Environmental Effects Statement is still going through field and technical studies, and is expected to be submitted to the state government by mid-next year.

This will provide further opportunities for community feedback, as well as a public hearing, before the state government's planning minister makes a decision on whether the project can proceed in its current form.

The state government has previously flagged 500kv lines may be required along the entire route, which would then remove the need for a new terminal station - however, AusNet has said it will be focusing on the current 220kv-500kv plan in its EES.

AusNet project director Stephanie McGregor defended the project as being "important for all Victorians" during the transition to renewable energy.

"If we're going to make the transition away from coal-generated electricity, achieve the net-zero by 2050, all the aspirations that things like Glasgow represent, we have to have projects like these, they have to go somewhere, and there will be many more of them," she said.

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"There will be landholders who will raise a lot of queries and concerns with us, express their views, we're hoping they will meet with us in the coming months to talk about some of those questions and concerns and queries - in today's announcement, we haven't identified towers, that's part of the next stage of work that we've got to do, we have to work out where exactly towers might go and where on people's land.

"There's still a lot of work to do, and we're hoping that landholders will continue to positively engage with us, but that doesn't change the fact that even in engaging with us, a lot might choose to object to the project - engaging with us to talk about towers or compensation doesn't in any way circumvent their rights and opportunity to do that."

Online and in-person one-on-one community information sessions run by AusNet will resume from next week, with online sessions on Tuesday, November 30 and Thursday, December 2 from 7pm, and in-person sessions at Waubra, Miners Rest, Darley, Melton, and Ballarat between December 6 and 12.

There are no plans for town hall-style meetings, Ms McGregor said.

More information is available online.

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