Much of south-eastern Australia has been shaken by a large earthquake, centred in the Victorian high country.
Geoscience Australia said the magnitude 4 quake struck just before 9.30am on Wednesday.
It was centred in the town of Mansfield, about 120 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, and felt widely across Victoria.
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There are also reports of it being felt as far north as Newcastle, and also in the ACT, Launceston in northern Tasmania, and Adelaide.
Former Nationals leader Michael McCormack told the ABC by text that workers had been evacuated from buildings in Wagga Wagga.
Mansfield mayor Mark Holcombe said people ran into the streets in the northern Victorian town when the tremor hit. But he had heard no reports of damage.
“I was sitting down at work at my desk and I needed to run outside, it took me awhile to work out what it was,” he said.
“I have been in earthquakes overseas before and it seemed to go on longer than I have experienced before. The other thing that surprised me was how noisy it was – it was a real rumbling, like a truck going past.
“All of the birdlife, quite interestingly, went berserk, so that was a real sign that something was quite wrong.”
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Houses in Melbourne shook and there are reports of damage in Chapel Street, South Yarra, in inner-Melbourne, with rubble on the ground and awnings torn from buildings. Yarra Trams tweeted that earthquake damage meant no trams were running along the busy shopping strip.
There were also other reports of minor damage, including broken windows and pictures shaken from house walls.
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Geoscience Australia said the quake was only 10 kilometres deep.
It is the largest tremor in Australia since a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in north-western Western Australia on August 10, 1997.
There are no tsunami warnings following the quake.
Aftershocks are also possible.
-more to come
