Three far-right activists who staged a mock beheading in protest at plans to build a mosque have been found guilty, convicted and fined for a criminal offence under Victoria's racial vilification laws.
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United Patriots Front members Blair Cottrell, 27, Christopher Shortis, 46, and Neil Erikson, 32, were all found guilty by a magistrate of inciting contempt, revulsion or ridicule of Muslims.
Magistrate John Hardy found the men guilty on Tuesday, after a two-day contested hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court.
The trio are the first people convicted under Victoria's Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.
The charge carries a penalty of up to six months in jail or fines of more than $9000.
After finding the men guilty, Mr Hardy struck out charges of wilful damage and defacing property, at the request of prosecutors.
A charge of offensive behaviour in public was earlier withdrawn by prosecutors.
The magistrate then imposed convictions on Cottrell, Shortis and Erikson and fined them each $2000 each.
Shortis confirmed outside court he planned to appeal against the magistrate's decision to a higher court.
He told the court he had political aspirations.
Cottrell and Erikson confirmed their appeals would be heard in October in the County Court.
Cottrell said the magistrate's decision set a "dangerous precedent" for Victorians, and believed the state was a step closer to introducing blasphemy laws.
In court, Mr Hardy told the trio they had "crossed the line" in staging a mock beheading outside the City of Bendigo offices on October 4, 2015, in protest against building a mosque in Bendigo.
"We live in a community that is extraordinarily diverse and each person is entitled to live their life without being subjected to wrongful conduct by others," the magistrate said.
In the video, Cottrell speaks to camera about the mosque plans and directs Shortis - wearing a Middle Eastern-style head covering, and shouting "Allahu Akbar" - and Erikson to decapitate a dummy with a toy plastic sword.
When the dummy is beheaded, red liquid spills onto the footpath.
Mr Hardy found the video - which was posted onto the UPF's Facebook page - was designed to incite contempt and ridicule of Muslims, and encourage other "like-minded people" to attend a rally opposing the mosque.
The date of the rally was broadcast on the video.
The fact the video was seen at least 275 times on the Facebook page indicated the men made their video for an audience, Mr Hardy said.
During a short pre-sentence submission, Cottrell told the court he had been in prison before and was concerned "there is going to be some issues" if he returned, until Mr Hardy interrupted and reassured the men he would not impose jail terms.
At some point on Tuesday, Cottrell also tweeted that he had received a "twisted hearing", although he did not criticise the magistrate outside court afterwards.
Cottrell, Shortis and Erikson, who all pleaded not guilty to all charges and represented themselves, earlier on Tuesday submitted that the video was not intended to insult Muslims, but to highlight beheadings as a danger of the religion, carried out by fundamentalists claiming they act in the name of Islam.
"We made a political statement on the dangers of Islam by focusing on a tenet of [the religion]," Shortis said.
"The state is effectively trying to defend what is an unlawful act under Australian law."
Shortis said it was notable no one had officially complained about the video.
However, the magistrate said a complaint was not a requirement under the Act, as the men's conduct incited contempt, revulsion and ridicule of Muslims.
After the guilty finding, the men maintained the law was wrong.
Shortis told court the ruling was a "red line", while Erikson described it as a "bad law".
Shortis said he had paid the City of Bendigo the costs of the clean-up of the red liquid, and there was "zilch" chance of him reoffending given his political aspirations.
Erikson told the court he had lost his job with a logistics company when news of the stunt first broke, and was still unemployed.
In submissions before the magistrate's ruling, prosecutor Fran Dalziel said the men were "imputing" acts of terrorism to Islam by depicting a beheading, and by doing so were "seeking to stir up or stimulate" feelings of revulsion towards Muslims.
"To suggest that building a mosque would bring terrorists to Bendigo is trying to incite hatred," she said.
"What is being critiqued is Muslims as a whole and all practitioners of that religion."
The High Court last year dismissed a final legal challenge against the mosque, paving the way for it to be built.
