Mothers, young children and staff members fled the Elgin Boulevard restaurant as the incident unfolded about 7.30pm on July 26.

Peter Warren Whyte, 30, was broke and in desperate need of cash when he decided to target the eatery.

As he walked in, Whyte approached a staff member and told her to open the register.

He pulled out the wheel brace from his clothing, jumped the counter and demanded cash while raising the weapon above his head.

Whyte told two staff members he would “smash your f------ head in” as two young children looked on.

He grabbed one staff member by the shoulder and demanded they open the safe, and again raised the wheel brace and made multiple threats to smash staff.

Another staff member attempted to open the safe and said she couldn’t due to time locks.

“You’ve got five seconds before I start smashing heads in,” he told the 19-year-old.

He got money by entering meal orders into registers which caused them to open.

He stuffed cash from three registers into his pockets and stole a staff member’s purse from a desk.

As he fled, a man told Whyte he was “gone” as he had been caught on several security cameras.

“Mate, I f------ need this, you don’t know how desperate I am,” he said and ran to a hire car parked in Smythe Street.

A man drinking at nearby Elgin’s Hotel got into his car and scoured the area after hearing of the robbery from staff members.

Police also flooded the area.

The man saw Whyte on Smythe Street and yelled at him to drop his weapon before Whyte got into the hire car.

Police chased him as he sped off and he was arrested with a co-accused at the Twin City Motel about 12.30am.

Officers found $1120 in cash on a table and found a hoodie and purse hidden in bushes on Anderson Street.

Whyte recently pleaded guilty to armed robbery and theft in the Wodonga County Court and received a maximum four-and-a-half-year prison sentence.

He has already served 117 days in custody.

Co-accused Jamie Phillip Smith will appear before court on December 12.