An alleged terrorist’s plot to blow up Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market  was reportedly exposed by a UK family who pretended to be a willing recruit online.

The man, who claimed to be part of an overseas terrorist network, sent encrypted texts and voice files with instructions on setting off a bomb at the market to the perceived recruit over a period of five months, the Herald Sun reported Tuesday.

But the recruit was actually a British-based family of “amateur jihadi hunters” and the correspondence was handed to the Australian Federal Police and Victoria Police.

The man, who was named only as Sajed, is believed to live in either Pakistan or Bangladesh and had a network of extremists assisting him, the report claimed.

The plan was to plant a “sequence of bombs” in the market and then drive the car into a crowded corner of the building before detonating the vehicle.

In a statement a Victoria Police spokesman said the matter has been assessed and it posed no threat.

“Our teams regularly receive information from various sources and carefully assess that information based on validity and risk,” the spokesman said.

“These matters were assessed earlier this year in accordance with that process and it was determined that they pose no threat in Australia.”

The jihadi hunting family is thought to have assisted in foiling a number of IS-inspired terror plots in the UK, including a planned suicide bomb on an armed forces parade and and attempted attack on the Queen.

Queen Victoria Market chairman Paul Guerra said the plot came to its attention on Monday.

“We’re in very close contact with Victoria Police,” he told Melbourne radio 3AW.

“They alluded to this yesterday but there is no credible threat, there’s certainly no immediate threat.”

Mr Guerra said the market had its own security team but also worked closely with police.

“It’s a number one international tourist destination for the whole of Melbourne – therefore we have a close working relationship with Victoria Police,” he said.