One of, if not the largest, hydroponic cannabis set ups uncovered in the south-west was found in a Sundale Road house on Tuesday.

A total of 262 cannabis plants with a potential street value of almost $800,000 were seized by police.

Detective Acting Sergeant Smith said it was a highly sophisticated hydroponic set-up, involving a large number of high-powered lights, 180 transformers, as well as a watering and nutrient system. "We don't know how long the grow-house has been in operation," she said.

Cannabis grow-houses are a booming industry which attract cash-strapped people from Melbourne's western suburbs, who drive to the country and tend to the crops at night for out-of-town crime syndicates.

Warrnambool Inspector Paul Marshall said police believed there were other similar set-ups in the region.

"We need the community to be our eyes and ears and to make those vital intelligence reports to Crime Stoppers," he said. "We ask residents to take note if their neighbours do unusual renovations, arrive at odd hours and have lights come on in sync."

Police located 500 plants near Ararat last December and in Ballarat there were 13 cannabis grow-houses found in eight months in 2016.

Earlier this year a Vietnamese national was jailed for 11 months after crashing a van carrying 38 kilograms of cannabis on the Hopkins Falls Road in December 2018.

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The man hired a Toyota Hiace van from Essendon, crashed about midnight and was picked up by another motorist.

The van was seized and police found a bag containing 11.3 kilograms of cannabis and another weighing 21.6 kilograms, containing a mix of cannabis and an unidentified material.

When the man attended at the police station he was arrested, subsequently jailed for 11 months and he has appealed against the severity of that sentence.

In January the court was told the man had a number of leased properties in his name and evidence on his mobile phone of possible drug growing properties in Victoria.

Courts have been told in Ballarat, cheaper rents and house prices in the country are tempting to growers whose primary purpose of establishing the grow houses is to generate quick profits.

Houses, both rented and purchased, are converted into crop set-ups.

The properties are re-walled, the rooms are re-lined to prevent any visibility and the interiors are totally destroyed.

Light timers are installed and increasingly traps are set up for investigating police - such as razor blades and fish hooks in the plants and live power wires.

Hundreds of lights are installed, the possibility of fires is high and electricity bypasses put in place.

One grow-house will be utilising sufficient energy to power eight normal houses.

Cannabis cultivated in 2016 is far stronger and more dangerous than the backyard weed of the 1960s.

Chemicals are added and crops are grown from seedlings to fully matured plants in just six weeks.

Research shows Australia has one of the highest per capita consumption of cannabis in the world - a fact recognised by international crime syndicates keen to capitalise on consumer demand.

Detectives know much of the money is reinvested in higher risk but greater reward illicit products such as heroin and ice, which is smuggled into the country.

Police urged anyone who notice unusual or uncharacteristic behaviour to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

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