A man trying to hide from Victoria Police was given away by his body heat after trying to hide in a compost bin for nearly an hour.

Police saw a man on the roof of a property in the suburbs of the regional town of Ballarat on Saturday afternoon.

They gave chase, lost the man and began checking backyards for him.

But it was a police chopper with heat-sensing technology that sniffed out the suspect by noticing a green waste compost bin in someone’s front yard was warmer than it should have been.

Police opened it and found their man who had been hiding in the bin for 45 minutes.

The 28-year-old was arrested and charged with charged with criminal damage, trespass, theft of motor vehicle and burglary.

He is being held in custody and due to front a Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

-AAP