On the eve of the rollout of Australia's historic plain cigarette packages, the Cancer Council Victoria has released new research showing a quarter of smokers still think the health effects of smoking have been exaggerated.
The report, based on surveys conducted annually from 2003 to 2011, shows one in eight of all Victorians in 2011 believed the ill-health effects related to smoking had been overstated.
However, one in four current smokers said they believed the effects were exaggerated.
Despite this, 90 per cent of smokers said they believed there were illnesses that were caused by smoking.
Quit Victoria executive director Fiona Sharkie said the graphic health warnings on cigarette packages had been very successful in educating smokers.
From Saturday the graphic will increase in size from 30 per cent to 75 per cent.
© AAP 2018