Firefighters called to Dickson amid fears of a gas leak spent an hour searching for the source - eventually discovering fruit was to blame.
The Emergency Services Agency said firefighters from ACT Fire & Rescue responded to reports of a gas leak at Dickson shops just before noon on Friday.
While they didn't set up an exclusion zone, they asked the community to avoid the area while they hunted down the "source of the leak".
"After an hour on scene as firefighters were searching for the source, the owner of a tenancy above the shops advised of the potential source of the incident. After a short investigation, crews confirmed this was the origin of the incident," they said.
"It was not a gas leak, but in fact a Durian fruit. The fruit gives off a very pungent smell and can waft some distance," the agency said in a statement.
It is understood the fruit was found in a residential unit above the shops, and could be smelt from the carpark.
Durian is a fruit most common in south-east Asia and known for its incredibly bad smell. It's banned in some places, such as Singapore's subway system.
Crews have now departed the scene. There was no word on what happened to the offending fruit.
It's not the first time a Durian has caused a similar scare in Canberra.
Firefighters were called to the University of Canberra library in 2019, "following reports of a strong smell of gas".
Staff said that on this occasion, the offending fruit was removed from the building in a sealed bag after being found near an air vent on level B.
They said while food was allowed in parts of the library "it's not appropriate student conduct if they did it on purpose, and lack of common sense if they didn't".
