A 64-year-old Stawell woman, who was driving the second vehicle involved in the crash, was released from hospital on Monday after being treated for non-life threatening injuries. She is yet to be interviewed by police.

The four crash victims, all from the south-western district, were returning home from a day of dancing at St Arnaud when their car and another collided at the corner of Bains Ararat-St Arnaud roads at 6pm on Saturday. 

Dianne Barr, from Heywood, Tess Ely and Elaine Middleton, both from Hamilton, and Claudia Jackson from Portland were yesterday named as the victims.

Residents living near the crash scene feared the intersection would one day cause fatalities.

Michael and Debborah Standfield were the first at the scene.

Mr Standfield said in the few seconds it took him to get to the cars, three were dead, while a fourth was near death. “They were gone. Just like that. There was nothing you could do.”

Mr Standfield, a former policeman, said he and his wife had seen many cars fail to stop at the stop signs.

“I see semis go through there. For some reason, that one is the problem. It needs ripple strips at least to slow people down.”

Mrs Standfield said: “You see the cars go down Bains Road, they just fly down there. A lot go through and stop because they don’t know where they are.”

Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer, who flew to the crash scene on Saturday, described it as surreal and said it would haunt him for some time.

"The image I won't forget was the driver was holding the hand of her front seat passenger as she passed, and it's that sort of image that my members, community members, the people who went to help, none of them will forget those sorts of images."

Cynthia Rennolds, who runs the line-dancing event the women had attended at St Arnaud Town Hall, said she had fielded messages from all over Australia since the fatal crash.

"We’re just a big family ... We just can’t believe it," Ms Rennolds said.