Premier Daniel Andrews has described as "hateful" the campaign against the Bendigo mosque, as he sat down with religious community leaders in the regional city on Friday ahead of anti-Islam protests scheduled for Saturday.

Mr Andrews' visit was seen as an attempt to calm tensions in the regional city, where hundreds - and perhaps thousands - of anti-Islam protesters, and anti-racism counter-protesters, are expected to converge.

The city has become a flashpoint for far-right discontent over a raft of issues, including Australia's immigration policies, fears of terrorism and halal food, and multiculturalism.

Creating a further security headache for authorities, the Bendigo protest coincides with the so-called "global rally for humanity", which calls on people to protest against Islam and Muslim migration at their local mosques, in co-ordinated protests.

Victoria's police have grown accustomed to volatile demonstrations in recent months and are bracing for violence between members of the extreme left and right, said Assistant Commissioner Stephen Leane.

Ahead of the planned demonstrations, he made a plea for activist groups to respect the rights of others in Bendigo and Melbourne and allow them "to practice their faith and enjoy their day".

There will be more than 1000 police spread across the state, with 400 in Bendigo, prepared to do "whatever action we have to take" to ensure the safety of the community, Mr Leane said.

"There are those on the far left and the far right who will come tomorrow I've no doubt with no intention other than to commit violent acts against each other," he said.

"The sport of the day will be to win a piece of ground or to win a piece of time where they will dominate the other group."

Authorities are expecting up to 200 "hardcore" demonstrators from each side of the fence as well as about a hundred moderate Australians.

Mr Andrews said the campaign against the Bendigo mosque, which the regional city's council approved in August, had been a "hateful" one run by outsiders for their own reasons.

"Bendigo is much bigger and much better and much more respectful and inclusive than what we have seen in the recent few months and what we might see tomorrow," Mr Andrews said on Friday.

"The diversity of this community is the greatest strength of this community ... What's been occurring is wrong, it's hateful, and it's not in accord with the values that Victorians hold dear.

"And our message to the wider Islamic community is that they're hardworking people and they deserve our respect. And we intend to make sure that they get it."

Mr Andrews said those protesting against the mosque "wouldn't be able to spell Bendigo".

"You've got people who wouldn't know how to spell Bendigo coming to Bendigo, trashing Bendigo's good name. They're outsiders in every sense of that word. They're outside the norm, they're outside our values, and they're outsiders to the great city of Bendigo."

Bendigo mayor Peter Cox said he had no doubt the mosque would be built, and also blamed protesters from outside Bendigo for whipping up trouble in his town.

"Obviously the protesters from Melbourne, Sydney, Queensland, are saying that they're going to move on to other towns like Albury, who are proposing to build a mosque. And I think it's important that we learn from the experience in Bendigo."

Chief among the lessons, he said, was the power of social media users to conduct misinformation campaigns, and target individuals for their own ends.

"We don't want a small minority dictating to the rest of Australia what the issues are," he said.

"People who have strong ideas about democracy need to get together as the inter-faith council has in Bendigo [the recently founded Bendigo Interfaith Council includes Muslim, Catholic, Uniting Church, Sikh, Buddhist and Jewish representatives promoting freedom of religious expression] ... so we don't want a small minority dictating to the rest of Australia what the issues are."

Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said "it wasn't so long ago in this country that Catholics could get persecuted for being Catholics".

"This country will never have a great future if we have majorities encouraged to pick on minorities. I have got no time, like 99 per cent of Australia, 100 per cent of Australians, for terrorism, for criminality, for stupidity, for religious extremism," he said.

"I deplore extremism if it is religious, if it is political, I don't like extremism. But you don't tackle terrorism and extremism by these sorts of rallies. They are counterproductive."

With Rania Spooner