Millions of Australians were shaken awake early on Saturday morning after a magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck to the east of Melbourne.

Melburnians and residents of regional Victoria felt their houses swaying and windows rattling in the quake, which hit just after 2am at a depth of 10km.

It was centred just to the north west of Leongatha, about 135km southeast of Melbourne. The epicentre was on the small town of Arawata about 10km away from Leongatha.

An aftershock of 3.1 followed just under an hour later.

Geoscience Australia says the early morning quake hit at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres. Photo: Facebook

Geoscience Australia said more than 14,000 people reported feeling the tremor. Residents said they felt a swaying motion for several seconds.

Residents in Point Cook, Box Hill, Caulfield, Brunswick, Dandenong and Gippsland also felt the vibrations.

The Victorian State Emergency Service confirmed the tremor and alerted crews. “There is no immediate threat to the community and no action is required,” it said. However it advised calling 132 500 if help was needed.

Earthquakes greater than 4.0 can cause damage and set off landslides.

A quake of between 4.0 is classed as “moderate” on the Modified Mercalli intensity scale while 5.0 is “strong”. A major earthquake is usually closer to 6.0 magnitude.

Seismic activity has surged in Victoria since a magnitude 5.9 earthquake in September 2021, damaging buildings in Melbourne.

And last August, hundreds of people felt a magnitude 3.2 earthquake on the Mornington Peninsula.

Residents took to social media to share their experiences. A Leongatha resident said they felt it was a “huge explosion nearby”, adding “the house shook” and there was a “booming noise”.

“I thought someone was trying to get in my front door,” a person wrote on Facebook.

“I’ve never been more scared in my life,” another resident added.

“It’s 2am and I’m wide awake reading upstairs and my bed just shook like hell and all the brick walls felt like they were shaking around me,” said a resident of Berwick in Melbourne.

There have been no reports of injuries or significant damage.