A Melbourne tradie copped a fright on his morning commute when he spotted two low-flying hot air balloons hovering "literally above" him.

Brendon Vamplew was driving along the Eastern Freeway early on Monday morning when he saw the big balloons hovering close to traffic.

"I genuinely thought it was going to come down in front of me," he told 7NEWS.

"I was actually quite scared to be honest."

Mr Vamplew filmed the balloons, which appeared to get very close to each other as well as close to an overpass.

"That's so dangerous .... it's literally above me!" Mr Vamplew yells in the video.

The air balloon company involved said the balloons were on routine journeys across Melbourne and landed safely in Yarra Bend as planned.

The incident prompted a safety warning - not about balloons, but about motorists using phones while driving.

"Whether you're looking at Facebook or you're taking videos ... it means that your focus is not on the road," the Department of Transport's Chris Miller said.

"And you're putting other people's lives at risk."

7news