Adelaide residents were given a rude awakening on Tuesday with reports of a 4.9-magnitude earthquake hitting the region.
Geoscience Australia registered the quake hitting at 7.48am local time off waters south of the South Australian capital.
The epicentre was recorded south of Victor Harbor and west of Kingston South East.
Adelaide residents bore the brunt of the quake, but reports show it was also felt in Kapunda in the state’s north as well as Beachport in the state’s south.
Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Jonathan Bathgate said it was a “significant earthquake”.
“This was about 100km offshore between Kangaroo Island and the coast of South Australia,” he said.
“The area does have a history of seismic activity, but this is a significant earthquake and is reflected in the fact that it’s been felt quite widely across the region.”
He said while there was no risk of a tsunami after the quake, he warned aftershocks were possible.
“We would expect them to be smaller and become less frequent over the coming days, but there is always the possibility of larger earthquakes in amongst that sequence,” Mr Bathgate explained.
‘Whole bed moved’: Residents woken by huge earthquake
More than 740 locals reported either hearing or feeling the earth move, with people calling in to local radio stations.
“I just made a cup of coffee and hopped back into bed and then the whole bed moved and my coffee spilt,” Kate from Reynella in Adelaide’s south told 891 ABC Adelaide.
Online, another resident said they were in bed when the earthquake struck, likening the feeling to “someone running over the roof”.
Those working in the city weren’t immune to the shakes either, with one saying they felt the entire building shake while on the top floor of their office.
“Whole office building shook, my computer monitors wobbled bad and forth in front of me,” he wrote.
A Normanville resident said their animals began behaving differently prior to the quake.
“Our fish have been hanging out in the bottom of the fish tank for the past week too, which they don’t normally do,” they said. “Was expecting something.”
Australia’s south battered by quakes, tremors
Mr Bathgate said the region had been hit with quakes before – the largest in 1948.
“So the seismic history of the area, the most significant earthquake is magnitude 5.6 that occurred offshore of Robe in 1948,” he said.
“This earthquake was much closer to the coast than the one that we’ve experienced this morning.”
He said the 1948 earthquake was felt along the coastline of South Australia and caused damage to the town of Robe.
Australia’s southern region has been rocked by a spate of earthquakes in recent weeks, with several earthquake targeting Victoria’s southeast.
A 4.8 magnitude earthquake hit Melbourne and parts of Victoria on October 2, with residents in the city’s east being jolted awake by the shakes.