A review of a $448 million Victorian Government family violence package has found it fairly ineffective.

The government put up nearly half a billion dollars to fulfill a key recommendation of the state's Royal Commission into Family Violence in 2016. The plan was to establish 17 hubs that would centralise services for people experiencing family violence.

Just five hubs have been set up so far, and an auditor-general's report says their work is being hampered by a lack of planning and analysis.

“Hubs are not yet realising their full potential to improve the lives of people affected by family violence and families needing support with their children,” auditor-general Andrew Greaves wrote in the report.

“This is because their service coordination is not yet consistently effective or efficient.”

The big rush meant Family Safety Victoria (FSV) opened hubs in Barwon, Mallee, North East Melbourne Area (NEMA), Bayside Peninsula (Bayside) and Inner Gippsland without having everything in place to meet demand.

With the Bayside and NEMA hubs experiencing a backlog of clients, many are left waiting months for support.

FSV is part of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). It coordinates the State Government's family violence reforms, including hubs run by FSV, DHHS and community service organisations under the name The Orange Door.

The report found the first five Orange Door sites have been hampered by a lack of detail and unrealistic timelines.

“However, when advising government, FSV overstated its capacity to manage some risks and did not implement all mitigation strategies it recommended,” the report found.

Mr Greaves reports that despite “considerable effort” by hub partners, practitioners and FSV to move the work ahead, “inconsistencies in processes and practices between hubs … impact their effectiveness”.

He has called for more realistic timelines for the implementation of the remaining twelve hubs.

Additionally, FSV has failed to deliver two of the royal commission’s five recommendations — to ensure community organisations work together to provide integrated service responses, and that they have the technology needed to support operations.

The auditor-general made nine recommendations to DHHS, calling on the department to complete detailed plans about the opening of the remaining hubs, improve statewide consistency of hub operations and develop and deliver comprehensive training.

He also said DHHS should work with Aboriginal services to create mandatory cultural safety training and strengthen support for children.

DHHS has accepted all of the recommendations.