Wilson Transformer general manager Jon Retford will reluctantly give his 280 employees the day off in early October for an event more than three hours away in Melbourne.

"We manufacture and sell what we make and losing any production capacity is a big issue for us," he said.

"You never get it back.

"One day is between $400,000 and $500,000 of product we won't be able to make and therefore won't be able to sell. It is a shocking thing."

Victoria's economy is bracing for a $1.5 billion thrashing as the Andrews government prepares to deliver on its pre-election commitment of a public holiday before the AFL grand final.

The Australian Industry Group has again attack the government's football holiday.

“We found almost 80 per cent of manufacturers and 72 per cent of services and construction businesses expect they would close completely on that Friday," AI Group state director Tim Piper said.

"That equates to roughly 158,000 employing businesses with operations in Victoria remaining closed for the entire day.

"There should be no doubt football Friday is bad news for the state and its businesses.

An AI Group survey found three quarters of the state's businesses would keep their doors closed on the holiday with at least $1 billion in lost sales for Victorian businesses with a $500 million dollar wage bill lumped on top.

Mr Andrews defended the football holiday again last Friday in a visit to Beechworth.

Mr Retford said paying penalty rates to keep the doors open wasn't an option.

"We would wipe out our profit if we had to pay our people penalty rates," he said.

"There is no point.

"If you are a coffee shop, you might get a bit more retail trade coming through the door.

Mr Retford described the move as a populist stunt at the height of an election campaign.

"If you ask people if they would like a public holiday nobody is going to say no are they?" he said.

"If you truly looked at the costs you couldn't possibly justify it.

"We need people with hands up wanting to help rather than hands out wanting to get what they can.

"One thing you can say about (Mr Andrews) is he does keep his promises."

"Whether they are well considered or foolish, I don't know."

Mr Piper urged the Victorian government to have a last-minute change of heart.

“As we have stressed in our dialogue with the government and in the formal response process, we strongly urge reconsideration of this additional public holiday,” he said.

Wodonga chamber of commerce has also been critical of the grand final eve public holiday.

The holiday will be held on Friday, October 2 with the grand final played the next day.