The 4.6 magnitude quake struck at 4:28 p.m. local time with the same force as a quake on March 6 near the same epicenter.
Shaking was felt across metropolitan Melbourne and as far away as Bacchus Marsh, 30 miles (50 km) to the west.
Geosciences Australia duty seismologist Steve Tathum told reporters the latest seismic event was one of five significant tremors centered on the same area near Korumburra in the past 12 days.
“Because this event has an equal magnitude to the March 6 quake it's not correct to say it is an aftershock. It's a significant event and you could say the earlier tremors were foreshocks,” Tathum said.
Both 4.6 magnitude quakes were the strongest to hit the Melbourne area in 36 years. There were no reports of significant damage from either tremor, but the March 6 shaking caused items to fall off shelves, windows to shatter and small cracks to appear in some walls near the epicenter.