An attempted shopping centre break-in has ended in a fatal hit-run crash involving a stolen car in Melbourne early on Saturday morning.

Police said a security guard disturbed three men wearing balaclavas when they tried to break into the Water Gardens Town Centre shopping mall.

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The group fled from the scene in a stolen black Audi and ran a red light.

They hit a car in the intersection of Melton Highway and Kings Road at Taylors Lakes around 1am, killing the driver.

A motorcycle rider, who was waiting to turn at the intersection, was forced to drop his bike and run when the car came through the intersection.

Nicholas, a witness, who was waiting in a fast food drive-through, saw the crash.

“We hear some screeching cars, we look over to the traffic lights behind us and we see a collision,” he said.

“And then, about a minute later maybe, we see three people on foot wearing masks running into a suburban street.”

Detective Senior Sergeant Brad McArthur said a man in his 20s was killed in the crash.

“It’s a terrible thing when we have people involved in a fairly significant car crash and it would be fairly obvious that the person was either seriously injured, or in this case, deceased,” he said.

“To leave the scene without attempting to help that person is just unbelievably callous.”

Detective Senior Sergeant McArthur said the police dog squad went after the trio when they fled the scene but they are still searching for the men involved.