Workers who were underground at gold mine sites near the epicentre of Victoria's 5.9-magnitude earthquake have safely been returned to the surface, two companies say, with a director at one of the mines later describing the moment his building "violently started shaking".
Victoria's State Emergency Service (SES) said there had been damage to some buildings in the town of Mansfield, but there are no reports of injuries or damage at two nearby mines.
Mining company Kaiser Reef — which operates the A1 gold mine, about 40 kilometres from Mansfield — said about 12 miners were underground at the time of the quake, but they had been safely evacuated.
The company said operations had been put on hold as detailed checks were carried out, but that there was no visible damage to the site.
White Rock Minerals, which operates the Woods Point gold mine about 60 kilometres from the quake's epicentre, said there had been "no immediate signs of damage" despite "significant shaking".
Nine workers who were underground at the time have been accounted for, and are now all safely back at the surface, the company said.
Mr Gill, who was on site, said the building he was in "violently started shaking".
"It went on for 30 seconds, which is not a normal mining-induced event. I went outside, and we commenced making sure people were safe and OK," he said.
"It was a bit nerve-racking for sure and making sure everybody was safe was the first priority."
Despite the strength of the quake and six reported aftershocks, the SES said there had been no reported injuries.
The Mansfield Zoo took to social media saying the resident animals were "all fine — just a little shaken".
"The epicentre was 41 kilometres from us, and we had lots of rattling and trees moving. Fortunately, there was no damage other than a few things falling off shelves," the zoo said on Facebook.
"The animals are all fine — they were startled but the shaking was only about 20 seconds and everything calmed down again."
The SES said there had also been reports of landslides in Victoria's north-east alpine region.
Mansfield Shire Mayor Mark Holcombe was sitting in his house at his farm near the town when the magnitude-5.9 earthquake hit about 9:15am.
"I went outside the house to see if there was any damage, which there doesn't appear to be, but I could hear it rumbling across the valley," Mr Holcombe told News Breakfast.
"It was quiet for some time after.
"All of the birdlife, quite interestingly, went berserk, so that was a real sign that something was quite wrong."
Mansfield is a town of about 3,400 people and is about 180 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, in the Victorian Alps.
An SES spokesperson said there had been reports of damage to several buildings in the Mansfield area, including to the local ambulance centre.
"People were running out on the streets, out of the shops etc, but no damage that we are aware of," Mr Holcombe said.
"There are some problems with telecommunications, though — so some of the phone lines, I have had trouble getting through, so we just need to work out what they are."
Mr Holcombe has lived in the area for 20 years and said locals had not heard of a similar earthquake in their lifetimes.
"The locals I have spoke to — I have only spoken to a few — they have had no experience of it, and they have been here longer than I have," he said.
Earthquake sounded like a truck
Chris McConnell, who works at a menswear store in Mansfield, said he "felt a bit of a rumble" and thought it was a large truck arriving.
"Then it got worse," he said.
"I thought 'has something exploded?' But there was too much of a long running rumble.
"You could feel it through your feet, and it was slightly unstable, but other than that I didn't feel like I was in danger."
He said he had heard of some minor damage at a nearby produce store where items had fallen on the ground.
"There was no creaking, no groaning in the building, but I could definitely feel it through the ground," Mr McConnell said.
"It felt like a large semi-trailer coming through.
"I think phone lines are an issue. No calls have come through, but we haven't had a power outage."
Ralph Barraclough, who lives in Licola, in the Victorian Alps, said the whole area shook.
"It fairly shook us up here. I was worried about my house coming down, but it's pretty solid," he said.
"We're getting quite noticeable aftershocks up here too.
"It feels like about a quarter and a 10th of the original one. And I can hear rumblings in the background too, but I've heard those since the actual earthquake.
"I haven't had a chance to check in with people yet, but the phone is still working."
Asha Martin, who runs a retreat at Jamieson, near Mansfield, said her neighbours came over after feeling the earthquake.
"They too looked like they had a heart attack," she said.
"The sound of the earth under mountain rumbling and seeing the house rock and the trees outside shaking was quite remarkable.
"My son was freaking out as he thought it was an avalanche from Mount Terrible."
