An evacuation plan being prepared for Canberra won't be made public to avoid confusion if a fire does impact the city and the plan needs to change.
An Emergency Services Agency spokeswoman said it, along with other government directorates and ACT Policing have planned for the event of a bushfire impacting Canberra "to ensure a co-ordinated approach being adopted in the event an evacuation was necessary".
"In the event of an evacuation, Canberrans would be informed through the bushfire warnings system of the need to evacuate, which evacuation centres have been opened and the appropriate roads to take to leave an area," the spokeswoman said.
"There are a number of colleges across the ACT that can be established as evacuation centres if required. Centres will be pet friendly and accessible for people with a disability."
The exact centres would be identified in the event of fire impacting Canberra, as depending on where the fire is coming from means those locations could change.
"It is also why we have been encouraging Canberrans to consider where they would go in the event of an evacuation when filling out their Bushfire Survival Plans," the Emergency Services Agency spokeswoman said.
"Canberrans should first consider going to family and friends before they consider an evacuation centre."
If a fire was to bear down on the city, residents are required to keep up to date with warnings which are issued through the Emergency Services Agency website, social media, The Canberra Times online and ABC Radio Canberra.
Landlines and mobiles linked to addresses or mobiles identified by phone towers as within certain areas affected by an emergency could receive alerts. If an alert was issued in this way, the number assigned to the system is 0444 444 444 which according to the Emergency Service Agency would be displayed in the message header or caller identification.
On Saturday, there were no fires burning in the ACT and no immediate threat to Canberra homes.
At a community meeting with rural landowners at Tharwa on Saturday, January 11 residents were told that authorities were developing a "very, very pre-emptive" evacuation plan as part of a plan for the worst-case scenario as bushfires continue to burn near the ACT border.
At that meeting, ACT Rural Fire Service chief officer Joe Murphy said people in both rural and urban areas should be aware of the "finite number" of firefighters, and they would not be able to protect every property in the ACT on the worst bushfire day.
"The answers we're giving to Canberra and the residents like me who live in urban areas are do not expect a fire truck at your door, do not expect a fire truck in your street, do not expect a fire truck in your suburb," he said at the meeting.
"I know it's really hard to hear, but we need people to be self-prepared. We really do."
