At first he thought he'd wet himself, before smelling fuel.

The 28-year-old rolled over to see a fellow squatter ignite the petrol, setting his entire body on fire.

The man struggled to open the door to the room, but finally managed to exit.

Outside his room, both his co-squatters were waiting with metal poles and struck him repeatedly, even when he tried to play dead.

More fuel was thrown on him while he was already burning.

"You're going to kill me. I'm going to die. Stop," the man pleaded.

Peter Gencev and Peter Newman - who took a leading role in the attack - faced the Supreme Court of Victoria on Wednesday after pleading guilty to the 2017 attempted murder.

Then aged 34 and 33, they were upset their victim tried to evict them - and had himself threatened the pair with a metal bar - after Newman sold drugs to his ex-girlfriend.

The fire was so intense the victim thought he was going to burn to death.

Finally he managed to flee and was spotted walking through the street with skin hanging from his body, with a witness calling triple zero.

Meanwhile, Gencev and Newman hid on the roof of the warehouse before being taken down by firefighters and arrested by police.

The victim, who would likely have died without medical treatment, underwent five surgeries to deal with his catalogue of injuries - burns to 42 to 50 per cent of his body including his airways, collapsed lung tissue and fractures.

Barrister Geoff Gibson told the court Gencev - who played a supporting role in the attack - was born addicted to heroin and had a traumatic childhood.

The lawyer argued Gencev had good prospects for rehabilitation.

Gencev and Newman will be sentenced on June 21.

Australian Associated Press