A couple is likely to face charges after a "newborn" baby was left unattended in a locked in a car for at least 30 minutes today while they shopped.
Passers-by raised the alarm when they saw the baby alone in a utility truck in Barry Street, Northcote, Victoria police spokeswoman Katherine Jess said.
"Pedestrians noticed the baby had been left in a baby capsule on the front seat of the vehicle ... and was clearly distressed," she said.
Police and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade broke in to the vehicle to free the baby, who was pronounced in good health by paramedics.
The baby's age was not known, but Ms Jess said witnesses described the infant as a "newborn".
The couple returned to the vehicle and told police they had been shopping for about 30 minutes, she said.
But a barista at a nearby cafe, Evika Attwater, told the Nine Network that customers said the ute had been parked in the street for up to an hour.
"A regular customer knew that it was a really young baby and she was just watching it near the house, and no one was coming back to get it, so it was at least 45 minutes," she said.
Melbourne's maximum temperature today was 22 degrees celsius.
Ms Jess said Northcote police had interviewed the couple and expected to charge them with leaving their child unsupervised.
