Mathematical modelling involves mathematical constructions chosen to represent some real world situations and the relationships among them; it is the process of expressing a real world situation mathematically. Visualisation can play a significant role in the development of thinking or understanding mathematical concepts, and also makes abstract material more concrete. Earlier research has shown that students' visualisation abilities may affect their chosen representations. Meanwhile, researchers have wondered how students' spatial abilities affect the process of modelling. This study aims to investigate learners' level of visualisation abilities when they begin the mathematical modelling process, and the visual process they go through. The purpose is to find out how pre-service teachers' spatial abilities affect the visualisation process in modelling tasks and, as a result, how much their abilities affect performance. The research suggests that mathematical modelling tasks could be incorporated in lessons to improve modelling performance.