The Australian Defence Force has confirmed heavily armed Russian warships are cruising in waters just north of Australia – cue widespread social media panic.

• Is Putin leading the West into another Cold War?

Although Defence Force chief Mark Binskin has downplayed their presence, saying its likely “just one part of their operations”, that hasn’t stopped the Australian public from revelling in the hysteria.

Everyone was a bit shocked at how quickly things got out of hand.

Of course, the first course of action was to point fingers and place blame – at one person in particular.

Next, they called for help from our international allies.

Then, the reaction descended into all-out ridiculousness as the threat apparently subsided and Facebook users imagined what this “Russian naval threat” actually was.

SBS even offered up their own humorous take on the issue on their comedy page.

Tabloid newspapers had some great fun with photoshop:

However, some social media users were keen to welcome our new Russian visitors, quoting a popular scene from The Simpsons.

And The Simpsons jokes didn’t stop there…

Of course, vaguely creepy photos of Vladimir Putin featured prominently:

Finally, one social media user uncovered the real reason for the fleet’s visit to Australia – they cancelled Sea Patrol. We had it coming.