A child has died and three others were injured after a car crashed into a primary school in Australia, police said.

The car was traveling on Burgess Road in Hawthorn East when it crashed into the school fence at around 2.30pm local time, a Victoria Police statement confirmed.

The car left the road, hit the fence and hit a group of children sitting on a bench at Auburn South Primary School, about six kilometers east of the Victorian capital of Melbourne.

The driver, a 40-year-old Hawthorn East woman, was arrested at the scene and remains in police custody.

His passenger, a child of elementary school age, was not injured.

An 11-year-old boy was rushed to hospital with serious injuries but has since died.

Two 11-year-old children, a girl and a boy, were seriously injured and taken to hospital. A 10-year-old boy was also rushed to hospital in serious condition.

The exact circumstances of the crash are being investigated by detectives from the Major Collision Investigation Unit.

The injured children were sitting on a park bench, an unnamed Education Ministry official told national broadcaster ABC.

An Education Department spokesperson declined to comment to The Associated Press.