The son of two Victorians who died from suspected death cap mushroom poisoning has honoured his parents at a public memorial service.

Simon Patterson said his parents Don and Gail Patterson were family-oriented, always generous to others and open-minded about people of different faiths and cultures.

“Mum and dad were very much a team,” he said.

“The fact they died on consecutive days reflected the togetherness they had worked so hard (to achieve).”

Mr Patterson spoke about overseas trips with his father, including to the Mount Everest base camp.

Other younger climbers were struck by his father’s fitness when he was then in his 60s, he said.

It was this fitness that saw him survive an emergency liver transplant only weeks ago but then die because he was so unwell, Mr Patterson said.

Hundreds of locals filed into Korumburra Recreation Centre on a dreary Thursday afternoon to farewell their much-loved neighbours.

The couple, both 70, died in hospital after their daughter-in-law Erin Patterson cooked them a beef wellington at her Leongatha home in Victoria’s southeast on July 29.

Reverend Fran Grimes opened the service, noting such a massive gathering was not “Don and Gail’s nature or style”.

“They just got on with living generous lives quietly and without fanfare,” she said.

When media flooded the town and described a tight-knit community, what they “actually found was a community that above all was shielding and protecting the family from speculation”, she said.

“Behind every story that we hear on the news every night, there’s families and communities reeling from that event,” Rev Grimes said.

Neighbours greeted each other and embraced as they walked into the hall, which was packed with chairs as a photo of the couple looked over mourners on a large screen.

The feeling among the community was one of gratitude for the Pattersons, who South Gippsland Shire mayor Nathan Hersey described as “instrumental”.

Mourners also had Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, in their thoughts after she too died following the lunch.

The Korumburra Baptist community has been praying for the recovery of Mrs Wilkinson’s husband and local church pastor Ian Wilkinson, who remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition.

The Pattersons’ grandchildren will also share their memories of their “nana and papa”.

There is a small police presence outside the community hall on Thursday afternoon.

The couple was recently laid to rest during a private burial after the town was thrust into the spotlight over speculation about what led to the deaths.

Police believe the four people were all poisoned by death cap mushrooms.

Ms Patterson, who has not been charged, is considered a suspect.

The 46-year-old has claimed she made the beef wellington using button mushrooms from a major supermarket and dried mushrooms bought at an Asian grocery store.

Her estranged husband Simon was due to attend the lunch but pulled out, while her children were also out of the house at the time of the meal.

The children ate the leftover beef wellington the next day but Ms Patterson scraped off the mushrooms because they don’t usually eat them, she said.

Ms Patterson said she ate a serving and later suffered bad stomach pains and diarrhoea, contrary to the suggestion of detectives that she did not fall ill.

The Victorian Department of Health is required to act if there is a food safety incident.

There have been no ordered recalls of mushroom products in the state since the suspected poisonings.