On Monday eight of the women sought help of their own accord while 16 were referred to the intake service via the Warrnambool family violence police unit.

The number of women seeking help from Emma House has nearly doubled from December 2018 to the same month last year.

Last December alone 235 women presented along with 244 children.

So far this financial year 1346 women have sought help, intake and risk team leader Sarah Brittain said.

"We've essentially doubled our workload in a year," she said.

"We've noticed the level of violence has increased. In July our numbers were going up but the women weren't assessed as high-risk.

"Now 90 per cent of the women we're assessing have had significant violence inflicted upon them and are in high-risk situations."

Warrnambool police family violence investigation manager Senior Sergeant Shane Keogh said numbers continued to rise.

"There has been a consistent rise in family violence over the last five years," he said.

"Every Christmas we see a spike in family violence reporting which is consistent with Emma House and their intakes."

At the end of the 2014/15 financial year, Warrnambool had 597 family violence incidents recorded by Victorian police. This past financial year, the incident number jumped to 755, an increase of 23 per cent.

Despite the horrific numbers, Ms Brittain said the outcomes Emma House and the family violence police unit were producing was positive.

"We're having great support from housing service providers and real estate agents in finding long-term housing for our women and children," she said.

"We're having more neighbours call and people using our website to refer incidents.

"There are incredible results from the family violence police unit. They go above and beyond everyday to ensure there are appropriate responses for each case.

"Other women can see the results are more are feeling it's OK to come forward."

Magistrate Mark Stratmann urged a man appearing in court on Monday facing allegations of family violence to turn his life around.

"You can't behave like this," he said.

"You can't damage property. You can't frighten people."

When ruling on another incident of damage to a home in which a young person was present, he said it needed to be "condemned in the strongest terms".

He said the community would not tolerate violence of any kind, but in particular in a domestic setting.

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If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call triple zero.

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