Nine passengers on a hot air balloon that had drifted over the ocean were rescued a passing boat.

The balloon ran close to ditching into Port Phillip Bay in Victoria, Melbourne after it ran low on fuel and wasn't able to land properly.

Footage shows how the passengers were able to jump onto the boat and helped to safety by the family of wakeboarders on board.

The hot air balloon passengers were then taken to a fire brigade boat.

The passengers praised the pilot for keeping calm during the rescue and the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard said he had "done a magnificent job".

The Australian Volunteer Coast Guard said on its Facebook page that the balloon "came dangerously close to crashing in Port Philip".

"St Kilda are currently on the scene of a hot air ballon that came dangerously close to crashing in Port Philip. Frankston vessel CG1 is currently obtaining fuel to be transferred to the hot air ballon. All occupants of the balloon are safe and accounted for," the statement read.

It continued: "Coast Guard vessels attended the incident off Beaumaris this morning. The pilot did a magnificent job at landing the hot air balloon 5 times on the bow of a recreational vessel, he off loaded 2 passengers at a time. All passengers were returned to shore. Extra fuel was taken out to the balloon as a precaution before relaunching."