​Her victim impact statement was read to Warrnambool County Court during a plea hearing on Wednesday.

Dean Timothy Barnes, 35, of Hamilton Highway, Darlington, and Edward Lindsay Lehmann, 34, previously of Mount Barker, South Australia, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool County Court to aggravated burglary.

The woman said that on the night of February 29 her life changed for the worst when two men used an axe to burst into her home, bash her partner and harass her and her two very young children.

She said she and her partner had just returned from a friends' home late at night and she was putting one of her sleeping kids to bed when she heard a car revving.

The young mum rang police and two men – one of which she knew to be Barnes – then broke down a door with an axe.

She said since the night her two-year-old daughter has never slept by herself and continually ask "are the monsters coming back",

The woman said that she has ongoing nightmares, had to quit her job, been financially and emotionally wrecked and split up with her partner who feels he could not protect his family.

She said she had had to move homes and her life had been completely upended.

She said she doesn't understand why the home invasion happened and she and her then partner had supported Barnes when he had no where to live – allowing him to live with them.

"I will never forget or recover from this violating experience," she said.

Crown prosecutor Charlotte Duckett said Barnes lived with his partner at Darlington about three kilometres from where the home invasion happened.

The victims, aged in their 20s, and their two very young children, also lived on a rural property.

Barnes had previously stayed with the victims for a couple of months after a disagreement with his partner.

Barnes and Lehmann started drinking at 4pm on Monday, February 29, this year and continued into the night.

They believe the victims had notified a government agency about the welfare of Barnes and his partner's children.

Their anger built up and they decided to attend at the victims’ home and confront them.

Lehmann took an axe and drove to the victims' home. 

Barnes' partner pleaded with Barnes not to go but he got in another car and followed Lehmann.

 The victims had only just got home from seeing friends when the woman heard a loud revving noise.

She was scared and called triple zero at 10.20pm, but was told police would have to come from Warrnambool, a trip of about an hour.

The woman said she needed police immediately.

Lehmann took the axe out of his vehicle and he and Barnes approached the house, yelling: "Open up c..., your dead".

Lehmann then used the axe to smash down the back door, with part of the door landing three metres away.

Barnes yelled something about the Department of Health and Human Services and previous thefts.

The male resident stood in a doorway to protect his family while his partner and their children fled into a bedroom.

Lehmann hit the man to the face with the axe handle.

The intruders were yelling they were going to cut the woman's heads off and kill the couple.

The man pleaded with them to leave.

The intruders left after about 10 minutes in the home and police officers arrived at 10.50pm.

Crisis accommodation was organised and Barnes was arrested at his home at 3.30am asleep on a mattress.

Lehmann got into his white Holden Commodore and headed towards South Australia before he was arrested in Portland at 1.10pm at the address of his former partner.

Judge Sue Pullen said she failed to understand how Barnes, who has had difficulties with his own children, could commit such an offence when there were young children present.

She said Lehmann had the advantage over Barnes of not having a prior conviction for aggravated burglary but had previously served a jail term in 2012 although clearly he didn't learn much.

Judge Pullen said the supposed issues with the victims weren't anything to do with Lehmann, but he armed himself with the axe and acted as he had.

The two men will be sentenced at 9.30am next Tuesday in Melbourne.