As Jake Hughes stood among the charred remains of the floating nightclub he spent years creating, a man claiming to be a neighbour shouted about previously threatening to burn it down.
The Atet club in Melbourne's Docklands went up in flames about 4.30am on Tuesday and Victoria Police are treating the blaze as suspicious.
No one has been arrested for starting the fire.
"I actually threatened to burn this place down and it actually burnt down coincidentally," a man told reporters in Docklands on Wednesday.
"So yeah, s*** happens."
The man, who didn't give his name, said he wasn't responsible for the blaze and could prove he was in his apartment at the time of the fire.
"Next time, I suggest use a lot more accelerant," he said.
Some residents from apartment complexes near the club filed noise complaints when it opened three months ago, but the criticism eased after music was turned down within guidelines set by the Environmental Protection Authority.
Mr Hughes choked back tears as he described how he quit his job as an architect and spent six years turning his dream nightclub into a reality.
He wouldn't speculate on who might have lit the fire and said he was still processing the disaster.
"I can't imagine going from a noise complaint to doing something like this. It's a pretty dramatic step, so I just can't imagine it," he told reporters.
Atet was meant to resemble nightclub boats popular in Europe but instead melted plastic roofing now drips down from the barge's metal frame.
Most of the furniture has been burnt beyond recognition but the main bar and wooden floor were spared.
"The disco ball is still intact and I saw a few messages saying that's a good omen so there will be dancing again," Mr Hughes said.
The value of the damage caused by the fire is not yet known but the club will be shut for the foreseeable future, meaning its 50 staff are now out of work.
Thousands of revellers were due to attend parties at Atet this weekend.
Mr Hughes is trying to find alternative venues for those functions.
"We've only been open three months after six years of work, so we're not really in a financial position at the moment to be able to handle this easily," he said.
Many tradies have reached out offering to help with the rebuild, leading to hopes it could reopen within weeks.
"It's definitely been pretty touching to see how many people have enjoyed the space and love what we brought to the city, so that's that's giving us the motivation to keep going," Mr Hughes said.
