Mr Blain said it was "not a premeditated attack on anyone working at the council".

He became fired up and yelled during an agenda item about a proposed council visit to Mariestad, Sweden.

Mayor Tony Herbert asked him to leave the chamber, however he did not.

The meeting was adjourned and some councillors left the meeting.

It resumed after about 10 minutes and Mr Blain agreed he would remain quiet for the rest of the meeting.

His apology comes as chief executive officer Peter Schneider revealed unruly patrons in the public gallery could be slapped with an $825 fine if they did not listen to directions from the meeting chair.

Mr Blain denied he was aggressive towards any member of council or in their personal space.

"It was not my intention to threaten anyone at this meeting and I do regret members of the council felt that way," he said.

"I am accountable for my actions and I just hope the councillors do the same.

"I believe the gallery was so vocal on Monday due to the antagonising behaviour of councillors towards residents and ratepayers of Warrnambool over the past few weeks.

"I sincerely hope you accept the my apology for my actions and the disruption of the meeting."

Some Warrnambool ratepayers are frustrated about the rate increase above the state government regulated cap, and say the trip to Sweden is unnecessary in the current financial climate.

It comes as the council will request Local Government Minister Adem Somyurek conduct "a thorough and in-depth investigation" of council finances and governance over the current and past council terms.

Cr Peter Hulin put forward the notice of motion for the minister to step in with a slight amendment that the investigation come at no cost to the council.

His motion drew cheers from the packed public gallery on Monday night.

The misuse of a council credit card has also been referred to the Victorian Ombudsman, which will complete a review.

On August 22 councillors voted for an independent body to review and assess council's credit card policies and its investigation into the misuse of one card.