Organisers have had to call off a music festival in Victoria's Yarra Valley after a deluge which saw a month's worth of rain dumped on some parts of the state in just an hour.
Grapevine Gathering was due to be held at a winery in the Yarra Valley.
Organisers said roads leading into the site as well as parking areas were underwater just hours before the event was supposed to kick off.
The Kooks, Peking Duck, the Veronicas and Confidence Man were among the artists in the line-up.
"Not only is this a devastating blow for all of our beloved pinot pals who were gearing up for a day in the vines," organisers said.
"But also to the local community who will miss out on millions of dollars injected into the region, all our suppliers such as vendors who had already stocked up on food, security, ticketing staff, production teams and more who have been deep in preparation for today's festivities.
"We ask you to please bear with us while we work through next steps, and we will be back with more information on refunds as soon as possible.
"Once again we are so sorry, we wish we were sipping on vinos with you today."
It comes a fortnight after the organisers of the Southern NSW music festival Strawberry Fields postponed their event, initially planned for late October, due to flooding at their site.
This weekend's flooding was the result of a wet week and thunderstorm activity on Friday, which poured about half of the October average onto Melbourne CBD in an hour.
Central Victoria copped the worst of Friday's weather, with between 50mm and 65mm hitting Avoca and Maryborough, which the Bureau of Meteorology said equated to about a month's worth of rain in an hour.
The SES had received about 700 requests for assistance between Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning.
Caution urged on state's roads as flood warnings remain
Despite a clearer forecast for Saturday, road users are being warned to steer clear of floodwaters as rivers and creeks spill into Melbourne and the rest of the state.
"We've had to perform quite a large number of water rescues over the last few days due to people driving into flood water," SES officer Laura Dewildt said.
"Please don't, it is simply not worth it. You don't know what you're driving into, and it might be the last thing you do."
A major flood alert was still in place for the Loddon River downstream of Laanecoorie Reservoir in Central Victoria early Saturday afternoon. The river peaked at 5.68 metres at 10am.
Two people had to be airlifted off their vehicle as floodwaters rose in the area.
Ambulance Victoria confirmed the man and woman in their 20s were winched off their vehicle near the Loddon River at Newbridge, west of Bendigo, at around 8:30am. Neither were injured.
Locals at Newbridge told the ABC the campground and tennis courts in the town centre were also underwater.
A major flood event downstream of Cairn Curran Reservoir eased as the morning progressed.
On Melbourne's outskirts, the Werribee River at Melton Reservoir had reached 1.89 metres by 3am.
The river had passed 2.14m at Cottrell Street Ford in Werribee, in Melbourne's outer west, expecting to peak above the minor flood level on Saturday afternoon.
In metropolitan Melbourne, minor flood warnings were in place for the Yarra River and the Merri Creek at 8am, with an initial minor flood warning in place for the Maribyrnong River.
A moderate flood warning issued for the Avoca River on Friday afternoon remained in place into Saturday morning, with minor flooding expected at Yawong Weir and Charlton Town in the state's west.
Residents were urged to stay on alert across the weekend, with the bureau warning moderate flooding could develop into Sunday.
Other minor flood warnings issued across the state ranged from the Leigh River in central Victoria, the Ovens and King Rivers in the north-east and the Snowy River in the east.
The weather bureau's Rohan Smith said it would be a "cold day today across Victoria, but much more settled than what we have seen in terms of rainfall".
Melbourne is forecast to hit a top of 15 degrees Celsius.
"Generally isolated showers across the southern part of the state with potential for more hail in the far south-west and coastal fringe," he said.
Rainfall totals across most of the state are expected to be below 1mm, except in East Gippsland, which could see between 3mm and 6mm.
"Even though it might be a blue sky today, there are still impacts from that riverine flooding," the SES's Ms Dewildt said.
