A beautician has been savagely wounded by an axe-wielding man believed to be her estranged husband in an attack at a major Melbourne shopping centre that left others sickened and afraid.

Police say the woman was struck with an axe "multiple times", inside a business at the Westfield Fountain Gate shopping centre on Princes Highway in Narre Warren just after 10am on Monday.

The woman, aged in her 30s, suffered upper-body injuries and has been taken to The Alfred hospital in a stable condition, an Ambulance Victoria spokeswoman said.

Police have arrested a man over the incident.

Hasan Zaman, owner of The Beauty and Brow Parlour said staff called security and police when his employee was attacked.

"She couldn't talk, she was badly beaten," he said.

"I don't know what he was thinking, a normal person cannot do this ... you can't beat people in this country."

He said it could have been even worse for the woman if had she not been at work.

"It was lucky it was in the shopping centre, we could take immediate action and he didn't run away."

"We'll be doing everything we can as a company – employer and my employees – to be beside her and make sure she gets better," he said.

Mr Zaman said she had separated from her husband in the past year and was living with her two high-school-aged children.

A worker at a nearby store said she heard screams and ran towards the parlour, along with staff from other businesses.

"He was still there but he wasn't hitting her or anything," she said.

The weapon was described as more of a hatchet than an axe.

Brodie Ruka was working at Vodafone, which is directly above and across the way from the parlour, where the attack occurred.

He said animated crying similar to that of a small dog was the first he heard of the attack.

He then heard a guttural "full on" scream and knew someone had been badly hurt.

Mr Ruka, who was serving a customer, ran from the store and down the escalator towards the screams.

He saw a woman lying in a pool of blood behind the counter of the store.

She was conscious, but had blood covering her face.

Her alleged attacker was standing nearby, holding shopping bags. The weapon could not be seen.

"The way he was standing there was like we were all overreacting.

"And then someone has said that's him, that's him, and then this tradie walked up and said you're going to jail.

"He started talking back to the tradie and then you saw he thought he was in the right, or had a valid reason to do so."

Mr Ruka ran from the parlour to find security, but, after he didn't find any, he returned to the scene of the attack and found they were already there.

Police arrived soon after and the man was arrested. A man from a nearby store thought it was kids mucking around when he first heard the screaming.

Another said he soon realised the commotion was not due to shoplifting. "It wasn't like someone stealing anything or anything like that because everyone was all just like 'what is going on?"'

A spokeswoman for the centre said police had established a crime scene and cordoned off an area.

The rest of the shopping centre was trading as normal, she said, but six stores remain cordoned off.

"Westfield is working with police. Police were at the scene very quickly and have cordoned off an area. I'll leave it to them to comment further on this incident," she said.

Tamar Klein, a store assistant at Ted's, described fear and confusion as two girls ran screaming from the shop where the attack occurred.

"One of them was screaming 'had an axe! Had an axe!' So we didn't know what was going on," she said.

"These days you imagine if it is a terror attack. You don't know if it is between two people or if they will hurt more people."

National domestic violence helpline: 1800 737 732 or 1800RESPECT. Safe Steps Family Violence Response 1800 015 188. In an emergency call triple-zero.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or with further information can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.