Video conferencing equipment has been installed in four prisons and 11 courtrooms in the Magistrates Court and Children's Court to deal with the rise in demand for court hearings in recent years, the Magistrates Court of Victoria announced on Wednesday.

Chief Magistrate Peter Lauritsen said that expanding the court's video conferencing tools would allow it to conduct more hearings, and more types. People in family violence hearings at Melbourne and Heidelberg Magistrates Court would also be able to use the video links to appear remotely if they chose to.

The technology was "an opportunity to reduce further the need for prisoner movements across the system, and will reduce the administrative burden associated with legal practitioners attending prisons", he said.

The Chief Magistrate  flagged the project late last year, after more than 100 prisoners were not brought to court for their scheduled hearings – including bail applications – in the space of a month at the height of the prison over-crowding crisis. 

This year, lawyers and other service providers will be able to communicate on their laptops, tablets and smart phones with courts and prisons via an online video conference. 

About 30 prisoners were not brought from prison to the Melbourne Magistrates Court for their hearings in one day last month, with the remand centre too full to fit a number of prisoners who were required to be held separately. 

The state's prison population grew from a daily average of 4586 prisoners in 2010/11 to 5800 in 2013/14, largely due to greater numbers of people being refused parole or having their parole cancelled.

Chief Magistrate Lauritsen also last year extended the court's opening hours to six days a week and arranged for weekly hearings in a County Court room to ease pressure on its rooms and staff. Video conferencing technology is understood to be the court's longer-term solution.