Jewish community leaders have vowed to rebuild a firebombed synagogue “bigger and better” as senior federal and state police meet to determine a motive for the alleged anti-Semitic attack.

“We’ll come back bigger and better,” Adass Israel Synagogue of Melbourne board member Benjamin Klein said.

“The building will be a beautiful jewel in the crown once again.

“There’ll be a huge rebuilding campaign, which we’re running at the moment.”

Two of the synagogue’s three buildings in Melbourne’s inner-south-east were gutted in a fire early on Friday. The premises remain closed to the public.

Police have confirmed they are also investigating reports of a bullet found on a footpath near the synagogue in Glen Eira Road, Ripponlea, on Saturday.

Klein praised police for their “phenomenal and helpful” work while speaking to reporters at a rally for the synagogue on Sunday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Victorian and federal police would meet on Monday to discuss what motivated the attack and whether or not it could be classified as a terrorism incident.

“If you want my personal view, quite clearly, terrorism is something that is aimed at creating fear in the community,” Albanese said in Perth on Sunday.

“The atrocities that occurred at the synagogue in Melbourne clearly were designed to create fear in the community, and therefore, from my personal perspective, certainly fulfil that definition of terrorism.”

Victoria Police said it had been working with Australian Federal Police since the investigation began.

Hundreds of people gathered in solidarity in Ripponlea on Sunday following the firebombing.

They included the granddaughter of one of the architects of the synagogue – modelled on a Budapest synagogue that was destroyed in the Holocaust – who said the community would come together in its time of need.

“This is a community of survivors, so we’re going to survive regardless, and we have the moral strength to keep going and to stand for what we believe in,” she said.

Hundreds of people gathered near the burnt Adass Israel Synagogue, calling for justice and unity.  Photo: AAP

The firebombing has fuelled political division, with cabinet minister Murray Watt accusing Opposition Leader Peter Dutton of politicising the incident.

Watt rejected Dutton’s claims Albanese has not done enough to address antisemitism and that the government has made Australia less safe for Jewish people.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu linked the synagogue attack to Australia’s decision to support a non-binding United Nations General Assembly resolution.

Addressing a separate rally in central Melbourne later on Sunday, Australian Palestine Advocacy Network President Nasser Mashni decried the synagogue attack.

Branding the culprits as racists and fascists, his remarks echoed those issued earlier via a statement from the organisation.

“Such acts of violence not only target Jewish communities but also fuel broader hate,” the statement said.

“Racist attacks on religious institutions – whether a synagogue, mosque, church or any place of worship – are unacceptable whether in our local communities or anywhere in the world.”

However, Mashni said Netanyahu’s attempt to cast Australia as anti-Semitic was a shameless distraction from his government’s crimes against humanity.