The incident occurred about 5.30pm, when Bendigo police received a call from an interpreting service, which said a small child had called them to tell them their father was threatening their mother with a gun.

The caller provided police with an address of the purported incident, which resulted in large sections of North Bendigo being cordoned off for more than an hour and at least 15 police being deployed to the area.

Police established the call was a hoax about 7pm and called off the operation. 

Many people took to the Bendigo Advertiser Facebook page on Monday to say they hoped the person responsible for the prank was jailed.