Destructive winds have battered Victoria as the weekend got off to a wild start, claiming one life when a tree fell on a moving vehicle. Another tree crashed into a home south-east of Melbourne and several fallen trees blocked train lines.

A man was killed after a large tree fell across a highway at Lilydale, north-east of Melbourne.

Police said the 33-year-old Wandin North man, later identified as Eden Herbert-Allan, was driving west on Warburton Highway just before 11am on Friday when a tree fell across the road. He died at the scene.

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Several large trees fell across train tracks between Ballan and Ballarat in central Victoria, disrupting regional V/Line rail services on the Ballarat line.

V/Line suspended all train services between Bacchus Marsh and Ballarat from about 12.30pm 3.45pm when the trees were removed and lines were checked.

A V/Line spokesman apologised for the delays and said that passengers who were delayed for 60 minutes or more were eligible for compensation.

A tree crashed onto the roof and garage of a home in Emerald. Despite the damage, the SES said the tree had since been cleared, no one was injured and the house was not going to collapse.

In the High Country, conditions were so extreme weather monitoring equipment froze and were unable to record just how cold and windy it was.

Winds whipped Mount William in the Grampians on Friday morning, with gusts of 111km/h recorded by 2am. Melbourne Airport was also blustery, with winds hitting 87km/h just before 4.30am.

"We've had a number of warnings out over the last couple of weeks but this one is probably the strongest front we've seen," Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Rod Dickson said.

By 5.30pm on Friday, the State Emergency Service had received 333 calls for assistance over the previous 12 hours, 30 of which remained active. Of those, 247 were for trees down and 73 were for building damage.

SES spokesman Matt Gallant said Emerald and Pakenham were the hardest hit areas of greater Melbourne.

Fallen trees accounted for 66 of the calls while the other 23 were for damage to buildings.

Showers are expected to begin on Friday night, with five to 15 millimetres expected to fall across the metropolitan area.

The new bout of severe conditions comes after the Bureau's Melbourne Airport weather station recorded its windiest July in 20 years.

"It has been notable. We've had a really dry winter so far and we've had very much below average rainfall and above average winds," senior forecaster Michael Efron said.

The average Melbourne rainfall for July is around 45 millimetres, but last month's total only reached 19.4 millimetres.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Stewart said the strongest winds recorded were 111 kilometre-per hour gusts at Mt William. Mt Buller and Aireys Inlet both recorded winds of 104km/h while closer to Melbourne both the Tullamarine Airport and St Kilda harbour received gusts of 87 km/h.

By 5.30pm Mr Stewart said the worst of the strong winds had passed for western Victoria and Melbourne, though high exposed areas such as the Dandenong Ranges might still get gusts around 90km/h.

But the senior forecaster said Melburnians should now be rugging up, with showers and even the chance of hail, thunder and gusty winds.

"Today we hit 20 degrees but tomorrow will have a top of just 13 degrees," he said on Friday.