The man in his 40s remains at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a stable condition. 

UPDATE 10.15am, October 7: An Alfred Hospital spokeswoman confirmed the man in his 20s was “still in a critical condition”. A Royal Melbourne Hospital spokesperson said the man in his 40s was still in a "stable condition".

UPDATE 7.15pm: The man in his 20s at the Alfred Hospital remains in a critical condition.

UPDATE 7pm: The man in his 40s at the Royal Melbourne Hospital has moved from a serious to stable condition. 

UPDATE 6.40pm: Ambulance Victoria has confirmed two patients were airlifted to hospital in Melbourne following today’s plane crash at Stawell.

One of the men, in his 40s, was airlifted to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious condition with suspected facial and head injuries.

The second man in his 20s was airlifted to the Alfred Hospital in a critical condition, with life-threatening injuries to his upper body. 

UPDATE 4.30pm: Soar Aviation has released a statement via its Facebook page. 

The aviation school – which lists its bases at Moorabbin Airport in Melbourne, Bendigo airport and Bankstown Airport Sydney – released the statement about 4pm Friday. 

The statement read: “On behalf of Soar Aviation, the incident that occurred at Stawell has activated a comprehensive emergency response, which involves grounding all our fleet across all bases. Soar Aviation and emergency response teams have incident response management and procedures in place in the event of an incident of this nature.

“Soar Aviation’s priority is the safety and security of our employees, students, visitors, and those involved in the incident. Privacy laws limit our ability to provide any additional information.

“As more information is available we will be providing updates through our website www.soar.edu.au and www.facebook.com/soaraviation  

“We respectfully ask for privacy for all those involved whilst we investigate the incident.”

Police told the Stawell Times-News that investigators from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau would likely arrive on scene on Saturday. 

Police said the scene would remain under secure watch until that point. 

UPDATE 3.30pm: Sergeant Rob Bartorelli has an update on the plane crash and is speaking to media at the scene. 

He said the fixed wing, light aircraft crashed near Stawell about 1pm and the two occupants of the plane sustained injuries that had left them in a critical condition. 

He said one man had been taken from the scene in an air ambulance to a hospital in Melbourne while the other would be airlifted later from Stawell airport. 

He said details around the plane’s journey and the cause of the crash were not yet available. 

He said the aircraft had sustained major damage to the front end. 

“But I couldn’t comment on how badly damaged it is,” he added. 

Sergeant Bartorelli said the SES would remain on site and monitor the scene until the Australian Transport Safety Bureau took over. 

He said the ATSB would guide the inquiries ongoing. 

“It’s not something that happens commonly, however, when it does happen, it’s good to see all the agencies today working really well together to maintain the crash site and look after the two people injured,” he said.  

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UPDATE 2.50pm: Both air ambulances have now left the scene. 

UPDATE 2.35pm: AN AIR ambulance is taking one of the men involved in this afternoon’s crash to the Royal Melbourne Hospital. 

The other air ambulance will take the second man to The Alfred in Melbourne. 

UPDATE 2.15pm: A second air ambulance has arrived at the scene. 

UPDATE 2.10pm: VICTORIA Police has issued a statement on this afternoon’s incident. 

A Victoria Police spokesman said emergency services remained on the scene of a light aircraft crash in Black Range near Stawell.

The spokesman said police believed the fixed-wing aircraft has come down just north of the Stawell airfield shortly before 1pm.

He said two men, understood to be aged in their 40s, have sustained life-threatening injuries.

Both are being treated at the scene and are expected to be airlifted to hospital.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has been notified of the incident and the investigation into the cause of the crash remains ongoing.

UPDATE 1.50pm: A MAN who lives near the site of the crash was responsible for calling Triple Zero this afternoon. 

The man was rolling up a hose and standing on the verandah of his property, about two kilometres away, when he saw the plane above. 

“When he was rolling out of control, I knew he was in trouble. When I saw him disappear behind the trees, I thought he was too late ended and then I heard the bang,” the man said. 

EARLIER: AN AIR ambulance has been called to the scene of the light plane crash near Stawell this afternoon.

Emergency services are attending to two people involved in the crash about 12.45pm. 

About 10 vehicles comprising police, fire, ambulance and State Emergency Service personnel have been called to the incident near Pomonal Road. 

Acting Sergeant Bryan Anderson of Stawell confirmed the plane “crash landed” south-east of the Stawell airport. 

He said the two occupants of the plane were both injured but “reasonably okay”. 

He said the Australian Transport Bureau would investigate the cause of the crash. 

More to come.