Shoppers were evacuated from Bunnings Newstead on Tuesday morning after a bomb threat was made against the inner-city store. Emergency services cleared the Bunnings Warehouse and surrounding stores at about 8.30am, and police officers later swept the premises.

Traffic was diverted off Ross Street from Edmondstone Road to Durong Street as crews worked around the back end of the building and the car park entrance. No suspicious items were found. By about 10.30am, the store and nearby roads were reopened.

The brief shutdown disrupted a busy part of the inner city, where access to the warehouse and nearby stores was blocked while police checked the area. A police spokesperson said there was no further information to indicate a threat to the public.

The timing of the evacuation mattered because it hit the store in the middle of the morning trade window, when shoppers and nearby businesses were already moving through the area. The response was fast, the search came up empty, and the site was back open within about two hours.