Melbourne: A heavily armed gunman went on a shooting rampage in a university classroom on October 21, killing two people and wounding five before students tackled him to the ground, police said.

Police were questioning the attacker, described as a man of Asian background in his mid-30s who was armed with several handguns. The two dead were both ethnic Asian men.

There was no immediate word on the motive for the shooting, although Melbourne has been a frequent scene of gang violence in the city's large South East Asian communities.

The attack occurred on the sixth floor of a building housing the arts and humanities faculty at Monash University's Clayton campus in outer Melbourne.

"The people who have actually tackled this person have done a tremendous job and I think we've been spared further death or injury because there were a number of handguns present in the classroom," Parks said.

An ambulance spokeswoman said that the two most seriously injured were a man in his 30s who was shot in the stomach and another man shot in the leg and arm.

Initial reports said that up to eight people had been shot and there was still some confusion about the number of injured.