Some Coles supermarkets have been cleared of customers and closed their doors as a tech issue is believed to have sent computers offline.
A Coles spokesman confirmed the company was dealing with some issues on Friday afternoon.
"Coles supermarkets are being closed temporarily due to a technical issue with processing payments in our stores," he said.
"Our team is working hard to fix the issue and stores will reopen as soon as possible.
"We apologise to our customers for the inconvenience."
Customers took to social media to find out what was going on after facing closed doors and long lines.
"All registers offline," a Canberra shopper tweeted.
An online video from a store at Richmond in Melbourne showed queues of overflowing trolleys at checkouts.
"#Coles are experiencing register problems & have asked everyone to leave," a post from Sydney's Cabramatta Community account read.
"This was #Fairfield, but we've been told that all stores in NSW are closed at the moment.
"No ETA on when the store will reopen just yet."
