A 4.6-magnitude earthquake has rattled residents in regional Victoria, with thousands of people feeling the early morning tremor.
Geoscience Australia said the earthquake struck at 1.32am on Friday near Rawson, a small town around 150km east of Melbourne.
More than 9000 people had reported feeling the earthquake by 8.30am, including many residents in the Victorian capital's eastern suburbs.
The earthquake is the second to hit the region in a month following a 3.8-magnitude earthquake in Melbourne's northwest in late May.
More than 22,000 people reported feeling that tremor, which struck just before midday on a Sunday.
Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Jonathan Bathgate said the earthquake was the latest in a series of aftershocks from the 2021 magnitude-5.9 quake that struck the town of Mansfield.
"This is a part of that aftershock sequence and it is possible that there will be others to follow," he told Seven's Sunrise program.
Elodie Borleis from the Seismology Research Centre said there were no reports of damage from the latest earthquake and the increase in tremors across the state was normal.
"There's been no reported damage so far, people have just reported feeling it and hearing it," she told ABC TV.
"This is very normal; yes, we've had an increase in the last couple of years of people actually feeling them, but the actual background seismicity hasn't changed at all."
The Rawson earthquake follows a 2.4-magnitude earthquake in the Mornington Peninsula on June 3.
Residents in Subury reported a 3.8-magnitude earthquake on May 29 and a 4.0-magnitude earthquake was felt across Melbourne on May 28.
Residents around Ferntree Gully were rattled by a 2.3-magnitude earthquake with a depth of about 4km on May 16.
