By Cameron Houston and Simone Fox Koob
Tony Mokbel has been stabbed in Barwon Prison.Credit: AP
Drug lord Tony Mokbel was bragging that he was "very confident" of being freed before he was stabbed multiple times in prison.
The 53-year-old gangland criminal was attacked by two other prisoners using homemade weapons as he walked back to the mainstream unit of Victoria's maximum-security Barwon Prison about 3.45pm on Monday.
He suffered multiple stab wounds to the upper body and was left bleeding from the mouth, head and chest. He underwent surgery and is in a critical but stable condition.
Tony Mokbel is treated by paramedics outside the prison.Credit: Nine News
Investigators are reviewing CCTV footage of the incident, which shows Mokbel being attacked by two men of Pacific Islander appearance before another prisoner comes to his aid and is also stabbed.
Russell Street bomber Craig Minogue, also an inmate at Barwon, tweeted through an intermediary that the attack was prompted by a report in the Sunday Herald Sun that suggested Mokbel was a "top enforcer" at the prison and had intervened in a standover scheme being run by Pacific Islander inmates.
Commissioner of Corrections Victoria Dr Emma Cassar said on Tuesday that investigators were trying to determine the motivation behind the attack and if anyone else had been involved.
Dr Cassar said access to the internet and Twitter was prohibited but Minogue had called someone who had posted the message in his name.
"The prisoner you are talking about has been using a third party to relay his tweets. We have expressed the view time and time again at how distasteful it is. Unfortunately there are no laws broken," she said.
"He has been very cunning and as soon as the incident occured jumped on the phone in the course of the lockdown and within moments relayed that.
"It's exceptionally distasteful while staff and other prisoners are trying to preserve life."
Mokbel is one of a number of criminals whose conviction is in doubt after it was revealed a gangland criminal barrister, dubbed Informer 3838, acted as a police informer and shared information about her clients.
Paramedics treat Tony Mokbel.Credit: Nine News
Dr Cassar said Mokbel had been "very confident he would get out of jail".
"I suspect it probably was [annoying other prisoners]," she said.
Dr Cassar confirmed the Sunday Herald Sun article formed part of the investigation and said after it was published corrections staff had conducted security assessments but kept Mokbel in the mainstream area of the prison.
"We have strict procedures in place following articles like the one that appeared on Sunday in terms of welfare checks [and] security reassessments," she said. "All those processes were done.
"Some of the information [in the article] was of interest to us. Was it a surprise? No."
Dr Cassar did not detail what sort of weapons were used to stab Mokbel, but said prisoners went to great lengths to fashion shivs from everyday objects.
"We've seen instances in the past where they use tree sticks, toothbrushes, hair combs and pens. Those are the type of implements that were used," she said.
Premier Daniel Andrews said changes would be made to prison security if necessary.
"It doesn’t matter what we might feel about a particular person; we want our prisons to operate properly and that means they need to be safe for everybody involved, particularly staff," Mr Andrews said.
"If changes need to be made, of course they will be."
The second victim, 31, was taken to Geelong Hospital in a serious condition. He was in a stable condition on Tuesday morning.
The relationship between Mokbel and the prisoner who came to his aid is unknown.
Barwon Prison remains in lockdown.
After the attack, Mokbel was flown to the Royal Melbourne Hospital in a serious condition.
He was conscious when he arrived and was seen shaking the hand of a paramedic who treated him as he was being wheeled in.
But his condition deteriorated, with a hospital spokeswoman saying Mokbel was in a critical condition at 6.30pm.
Tony Mokbel shakes the hand of a paramedic at Royal Melbourne Hospital. Credit: Nine News
Footage of the aftermath of the stabbing showed paramedics and police gathered around a shirtless Mokbel who was lying on stretcher in a pair of shorts.
Tony Mokbel being stretchered out of Barwon Prison.Credit: Nine News
Mokbel was sentenced in 2012 to 30 years' prison for serious drug crimes. He must serve a minimum of 22 years.
He is known for skipping bail and fleeing to Greece before he was due to face trial for trafficking amphetamines in March 2006.
The drug baron spent about six months hiding at an associate's country property at Bonnie Doon in Victoria before he was moved to Western Australia. He was then smuggled out of Australia on a private yacht bound for Greece.
After a massive manhunt he was arrested in Athens, wearing an ill-fitting wig, in June 2007 and extradited.
Tony Mokbel arrives at Royal Melbourne Hospital.Credit: Nine News
The maximum security prison near Lara, about 60 kilometres south-west of Melbourne, is home to more than 400 prisoners.
In 2012 gangland kingpin Carl Williams was beaten to death with the seat of an exercise bicycle in the prison's maximum-security Acacia unit in April 2010.
with Melissa Cunningham and Adam Carey