A Melbourne man dressed in just his underwear has described how he chased down and restrained a teenager who tried to break into his house this morning.

Grant Brown, the 40-year-old owner of the house, told police he heard a noise inside his house in Hawthorn just before 3.30am.

As he made his way through the house, he came across two teenagers allegedly searching the ground floor of his home.

He then confronted the pair, who ran from the scene.

Brown spoke to Today this morning, and revealed what happened when he initially saw the boys in his home.

“[I wanted to] give them a fright, started yelling and chased them out,” he said.

“One of them was trying to jump over a neighbour’s fence and went down a laneway, and he was in a dead end, and I pulled him back when he was halfway up the fence.”

Brown chased them and caught up to one of the boys, a 15-year-old.

Because Brown did not have his phone on him, he made the alleged intruder call the police himself.

“I pulled up his top to see if he had a weapon, and then this guy is like, ‘don’t hurt me, you can call the cops'”, Brown said.

“I’m like, ‘alright, you call the cops’, and I just pulled out his phone and made him [dial].

“I just held onto him until the cops arrived.”

All of this was caught on dramatic CCTV footage from a neighbouring house, with neighbours now dubbing Brown “Captain Underpants” after the character from the popular children’s book and movie franchise of the same name.

Brown said the boys told him they were in the area for a jog, but he claims they were trying to steal his car.

Responding police also tracked down the other teenager, a 14-year-old boy, and he was taken into custody.

Police are investigating whether the pair were also involved in another robbery in Elphin Grove just before the incident.

The teenagers, who are from Boroondara and Whittlesea, will now be interviewed by police.

No charges have been laid.