Warrigal Rd was named after the dingo or other wild creature in an indigenous language and a word also meaning a boundary rider in the early days of European settlement. Starting as a single carriageway with four lanes at Canterbury Rd, Surrey Hills, it continues all the way to Beach Rd, Mentone. From Canterbury Rd it runs south to High Street Rd, Ashwood, where it widens to a six-lane thoroughfare with dual carriageway until it reaches Dandenong Rd where it reverts to a four-lane single carriageway. At Old Dandenong Rd it again becomes a six-lane dual carriageway until reverting to four lanes with a single carriageway at Bernard St, Cheltenham North. After crossing the Nepean Highway at Mentone it narrows to a dual lane single carriageway roadway, crosses the Frankston railway – work is under way to replace the level crossing with a bridge – and ends at a T intersection with Beach Rd.