A tradie is being hailed a 'hero' after he fought off a gang of five vicious marauding car thieves wearing nothing but his underwear.

The dramatic Boxing Day struggle was captured on security camera outside of his  Mermaid Waters home on the Gold Coast at about 4:30am.

Footage shows construction worker Steve Middleton, 50, in his briefs, rushing outside to confront the men before stubbornly gripping the shirt of a thug while hooded members of the same gang attack him with a baseball bat and a knife.

'I was naked, I woke up, found a pair of underpants, ran outside, scared one of them, managed to tackle him,' he told Nine News.

'Once the baseball came out I tried to use the young fella I was holding onto as my little shield,' Mr Middleton 

He said he up early for a fishing trip when he saw someone ransacking his car.

'Then I saw another head pop up on the other side, going through the other car. I was like 'Oh s**t, we're being robbed',' he told the Courier Mail.

'I thought 'bugger it, I'll grab this bloke' and gave him a bit of a tackle.'

During the chaos he revealed his hand was injured when 'old mate gave me a little nick with his knife.' 

It was then one of the thugs approached swinging the bat and eventually Mr Middleton had to let go of the shirt.

The gang fled in two vehicles, a silver BMW X4 and white Mazda CX-3 with the Mazda stolen from a nearby neighbourhood. 

Mermaid Waters residents said the early morning melee 'sounded like an all-in-brawl'.

Mr Middleton was likened to Superman by one neighbour both for his bravery and unusual crime-fighting outfit.

He revealed his family had also been victims of crime before with his wife and two daughters assaulted in a terrifying home invasion in 2017.  

On that occasion one daughter was held at gunpoint while the other was struck in the face.  

Queensland Police are aware of the incident and said their investigations are ongoing.

Mr Middleton said he plans to make his fishing trip at the first available opportunity.