A pilot program for a weekend bail and remand court began in Melbourne on Saturday in a bid to reduce the backlog of cases.

A magistrates' court spokeswoman said there was no immediate plan to extend the trial beyond Melbourne.

She said any decision on the program’s future would depend on a review.

The Saturday court sittings follow issues of overcrowding in prisons and police holding cells across Victoria.

Bendigo Police officer-in-charge Craig Gaffee said the station’s cells were running at capacity.

He said the strain placed on police resources to monitor prisoners had increased this year.

“It certainly has grown over the past six months. We’re holding more prisoners than we had previously,” he said.

“It’s a statewide problem. There are a number of different agencies all trying to fix the issue.”

Loddon Campaspe Community Legal Centre's Peter Noble said there needed to be long-term strategies to address the bulging prison system. '

He criticised the current trial of weekend sittings in Melbourne as a "stop gap solution".

"This is a predictable response to a bottleneck that we are experiencing in Victoria’s criminal justice system," he said. 

Bendigo Law Association president Luke Docherty said the police and the prison system were being stretched to breaking point.

He said it remained unclear whether extra sittings would resolve key issues.

"It is going to be a further drain on resources from all sides – courts, defence, police and government," he said.

"The issues haven’t come to a head in Bendigo yet in terms of straining the court."  

Mr Docherty said a major issue in Bendigo was getting access to clients. 

​He said it was almost impossible to be able to access or contact people being held at the various police stations.