Several police officers were wounded and hundreds of protesters were arrested in Australia's second-most populous city in violent clashes at an anti-lockdown march.

Officers used pepper spray and made over 200 arrests in Melbourne as several hundred attendees flouted stay-at-home orders and marched through an inner-city suburb, according to AFP.

The illegal gathering comes as the city goes through its sixth lockdown since the pandemic started.

Police said six officers were taken to hospital after they were pelted with projectiles and trampled in clashes with the crowd of around 700 people.