An Australian man has reportedly killed a wombat with an axe after the animal attacked him and pulled him to the ground in a 20-minute ordeal.

It is highly unusual for a wombat to attack a human

The 60-year-old victim had stepped on the creature which then became "rather nasty" and bit the man's lower legs and arms.

He was brought down by the wombat and also suffered injuries to his chest after finding it outside his caravan door.

The man tried to get away from the creature but it "kept coming at him", said a paramedic.

Eventually he managed to grab an axe and kill the animal, it is claimed.

Paramedic Robert Gill said: "Unfortunately the gentleman stood on the wombat.

"The wombat proceeded to get rather nasty and attacked him and inflicted some wounds to his lower legs and also to his arms as well."

"It took about 20 minutes. He did try to exit the area and get away from the wombat but my belief is that it kept coming at him," he told ABC Radio.

He was treated in hospital for bites to his arms and legs after the attack in Flowerdale, near Melbourne.

The victim has been living in the caravan temporarily while his house was rebuilt following last year's devastating bushfires.

A government spokesman said it was highly unusual for a wombat, a solid but slow-moving marsupial, to attack a human but admitted they could rush towards someone if threatened.

He said: "Wombats that are in an advanced stage of mange (disease) will become very agitated from the suffering and the irritation of the mange.

"But it's not known that they will push the attack to where they would physically attack someone."