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

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

The car left the road, struck a fence and hit a group of children sitting on a bench at Auburn South Primary School, located about 4 miles 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.

Her passenger, an elementary school-aged child, 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, suffered serious injuries and were taken to hospital. A 10-year-old boy was also rushed to hospital in serious condition.

The exact circumstances surrounding the accident are being investigated by detectives from the Major Collision Investigation Unit.

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

A Department of Education spokesman declined to comment to The Associated Press.