It’s the single largest loss of life in the force’s history.
“To live a life in the service of others is a deeply impressive thing,” Andrews said.
“To lose your life in the service and protection of others is a tragedy.
“We honour those who we have lost.
“We send our best wishes to their families.”
At around 4:50 pm, a highway patrol car spotted a speeding 911 Porsche and directed the driver to an emergency lane, where he stopped.
The driver was given a roadside test, and, testing positive, the patrol called for the car to be impounded and another highway patrol team came to provide support.
At around 5:40 pm, a semi-trailer hit the cars.
All four police officers were killed.
The truck driver suffered what the commissioner described as a medical event immediately afterwards and was taken to hospital where he is under police guard
The driver of the Porsche is not being identified but is known to police, and will be surrendering to a police station later today after initially fleeing the scene.
“It is a tragic day for Victoria police, I said last night, it is a tragic day obviously for the families of these officers and we feel very deeply for them,” Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said of the incident.
“The whole force is reeling this morning from what has occurred last night.
“It is an unprecedented event for us to lose so many officers in one event, in one very terrible collision on the freeway.
“And officers just doing their work, doing their job, doing a duty that is performed by officers many times a day across our state and it is just a timely reminder of how tragic this police work can be at times.”