Vic earthquakes not unusual: seismologist

Melburnians who woke to the feeling of a large truck passing their homes were just experiencing a tiny earthquake, not unusual in Victoria's southeast, a seismologist says.

The 2.2-magnitude earthquake shook residents in outer southeast Melbourne at 12.41am (AEDT) on Saturday.

Geoscience Australia duty seismologist Marco Maldoni said about 40 reports had been made from suburbs including Frankston, Cranbourne, Mt Eliza and Carrum Downs.

The earthquake was relatively tiny but residents living within a few kilometres would have felt like a large truck was passing their homes, Dr Maldoni said.

Most of Victoria's earthquakes occur in the state's southeast with minor fault lines toward the Peninsula and Gippsland regions, Dr Maldoni said.

He said a search of past earthquakes within 100 kilometres of Saturday's earthquake revealed that in the past 30 years there have been about 300 minor quakes.

"There's a history of very tiny earth tremors, so today's earthquake was nothing unusual," Dr Maldoni said.

The last earthquake in the area was in January 2014 with a magnitude of 2.4, Geoscience Australia says.