Five tourist spots along the Great Ocean Road, including Port Campbell beach, have been closed as dangerous swells pound the coast.
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Access to the beach at Gibson Steps has also been closed along with the lower levels of The Grotto, Boat Bay boat ramp at Peterborough and Sherbrooke River estuary.
Parks Victoria's area chief ranger for the Shipwreck Coast Andrew McKinnon said he was actively monitoring the Port Campbell foreshore where they were expecting a 7.1 metre swell out to sea combined with a 1.1 metre tide and 50km/h winds about 3pm on Friday.
He said the weather conditions were not unusual for this time of the year, but Parks Victoria would be actively monitoring the conditions on Friday and Saturday.
"It's nothing the coastline hasn't seen before," he said.
"It's pretty rugged conditions out there. We encourage people to make safety a priority and check conditions before they go."
Significant swells with rogue waves as high as 15 metres were predicted for the south-west coast on Friday.
The Standard was at Port Campbell Bay for the peak swell and high tide which reached 7.7 metres around 3.30pm. The beach was closed about noon on Friday.
Parks Victoria staff turned away a couple of young surfers in wetsuits on Friday afternoon as they went to enter the water and Parks Vic and SES volunteers moved visitors away from the grassed area close to where the waves were hitting.
Mr McKinnon said the Port Campbell jetty was also closed. "Traditionally the lower landing is a half a metre or a metre (above the water) and it's covered. It's pretty high and that's why we've closed the jetty," he said.
There was very little sand on the Port Campbell Bay shoreline, with strong winds and waves crashing and spraying international visitors posing for photos.
Mr McKinnon said even during times of high tide there was normally about four to five metres of beach at the site.
"There's always some beach here but with the swell and the tidal surge at the moment we don't have that beach," Mr McKinnon said. "Along the coast this is one of the most protected and sheltered bays, imagine what the other ones are like."
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Chris Godfred said the forecast meant that every third wave could be eight to nine metres, and once or twice during the day you could see a wave of 14 to 15 metres in the open ocean.
He said people were advised to head the warnings about the dangerous conditions.
"Unless you're a very experienced water user in terms of surfing or boating, I'd well advise people to stay away," Mr Godfred said.
"Even if you're on the beach or coastline you've really got to keep a careful eye out.
"Regardless of the actual wave heights, tides are going to be higher than normal as well."
Port Campbell Surf Lifesaving Club administration officer Jon McLeod said while there was big surf, it wasn't unusual.
"We see conditions like this three or four times a year, at least. You usually have big tides at Easter, and big swells, it's a very common time to have big seas. It's when you have a howling south-westerly which we have now, and they always say there's nothing between here and Antarctica for 3000 kilometres."
SES south west regional manager Ian Carlton said they had relief volunteer crews working at Port Cambell following the tragic Easter Sunday drownings to ease pressure on the unit's Port Campbell volunteers.
He said the weather conditions were not unique.
"In June 2014 there was a storm surge come through Port Fairy and Warrnambool and over the breakwater, but these storm surge events occur once or twice a year.
"We sent pager messages out to our volunteers last night to the units that there would be high tides at 1.30am overnight and 3.30pm today and there may be requests for assistance with water coming up into low lying coastal areas."
Port Campbell Takeaway employee Emma Cook said she had seen conditions like it, especially at this time of year and hadn't had any comments on Friday from visitors about the weather.
It was Chinese Melbourne-based student Sue Sun's first visit to the Great Ocean Road and she said she didn't realise some tourist sites were closed prior to their visit. She said the scenery was "pretty good except for the wind."
Surrey Hills couple Pam and John Welsford were in the region on Friday and decided to head to the coast after hearing there would be wild conditions.
Conditions will be monitored across the weekend. To keep up to date with site closures, and when they are lifted, go to the Parks Victoria website and search for Port Campbell National Park.
Read more: Dangerous swell to hit the coast
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