Detectives have charged two men with attempted murder over the stabbing of notorious underworld figure Tony Mokbel at Victoria’s maximum-security Barwon Prison.

ABC reports Mokbel, 53, remains in a critical condition in the Royal Melbourne Hospital following the attack at the Lara prison about 3.40pm on Monday.

Another inmate, 31 was also attacked and treated at Geelong Hospital, before being released on Tuesday morning.

Armed Crime Squad detectives on Tuesday charged the two 21-year-old men with attempted murder, intentionally causing serious injury and causing serious injury intentionally in circumstances of gross violence.

They will appear in Geelong Magistrates’ Court for a filing hearing on Friday.

Aerial footage from Barwon Prison on Monday showed a bare-chested Mokbel – who is a convicted drug trafficker – as paramedics rushed to his aid after reports he was stabbed in an exercise yard.

Mokbel was originally considered to be in a serious but stable condition, but Royal Melbourne Hospital later upgraded his condition to critical.

Mokbel, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison in 2012, was the mastermind behind an elaborate drug syndicate known as The Company.

He was arrested in Greece in June 2007, 15 months after fleeing Melbourne while on bail during a trial on cocaine importation charges.

Tony Mokbel faces court in 2012. Photo: Getty

Mokbel has hit headlines in recent weeks after news broke that his former lawyer had acted as a police informer, dishing dirt to detectives to help secure convictions.

Famously captured in Greece in 2007, Mokbel has since been sentenced to a 30-year jail term for drug crimes and must serve at least 22 years behind bars before being eligible for parole.

-with AAP