The former Wallabies star was stabbed while trying to defend his family and Monday morning was undergoing surgery at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Queensland Police confirmed on Monday.

Two men are in custody while another fled the scene after the incident shortly after 3am in the Brisbane suburb of Coorparoo, police said.

Detective Superintendent Tony Fleming says the family woke to noises within the house and Kefu went to investigate.

“That person was accosted by at least one of the offenders in the premises and threatened to be stabbed if they didn’t hand over vehicle keys,” he said.

“Other members of the family came to that person’s aid and during this time, very significant injuries occurred to the family.”

Police allege Kefu suffered “very serious wounds” to his abdomen, but is expected to survive. Three other people were injured in the attack with a man in his 20s suffering abdominal and back lacerations, a woman in her 40s significantly injuring her arm and a female teenager with a hand injury.

Police were told neighbours came to the aid of the family and caught one of the offenders, who was armed with a knife.

That juvenile has been arrested, and police retrieved a knife and an axe at the crime scene and also believe a machete was used, though it wasn’t recovered.

Another youth was arrested by police and is under guard at the Princess Alexandra Hospital. It’s alleged the pair had been out on bail under curfew conditions.

In the early hours of Monday, a vehicle was stolen from the Forest Lake area and police believe this was the car used to take the offenders to Kefu’s property.

Police at the scene of the alleged home invasion and stabbing at Coorparoo (Photo: ABC)

“I do expect that we will be looking at offences of burglary, and as a result of the allegations and the wounds and the nature of the information known to us, attempted murder on the family,” Det Supt Fleming said.

“It’s unacceptable that people break into people’s houses and set upon them with weapons.

“We have a large number of officers dedicated to this now and we will be working to take these people in custody and I expect that we will be making the strongest objection to the court that they remain in custody.”

Police could not confirm whether the juvenile offenders were equipped with GPS trackers under their bail conditions .

“I certainly haven’t been told that they were on GPS trackers and if they were, I would expect that I would know that,” Det Supt Fleming said.

“People who behave in this type of way … our approach is we will do everything to have them in custody to keep the community safe. Because when you behave this way you clearly have no respect for any other human being.”

Kefu played 60 tests for Australia over a seven-year career.

Witnesses are urged to contact police.