Albanese called for calm, saying that Australian authorities were monitoring the situation.

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“Our high commission in Port Moresby are keeping a very close eye on what is occurring there, making sure Australians are looked after,” he told a news conference.

“We continue to urge calm at this difficult time. We haven’t had any requests from the PNG government at this time but ... our friends in Papua New Guinea, we have a great relationship with them.”

Police in the Pacific Island nation have struggled with a surge in violent crime over the past year.

Marape has said boosting security would help to attract foreign investment in the country’s burgeoning gold and copper resources sector.

The violence happened against a backdrop of “long-simmering” discontent around social and economic factors, ANU academic Sinclair Dinnen said.

“And the evident failure of the political system and elites who run it to deliver development and services to the bulk of the population.

“[It’s] an extremely serious challenge for Australia given its strategic and other interests in PNG and, of course, the recent security agreement between Australia and PNG.”

But the unrest was unlikely to affect broader regional security if it was quelled reasonably quickly as was the case of previous events in the Solomons and Tonga which remained localised, Pacific affairs expert Anthony Regan said.

“Some other big worries are the extent of the looting and shutting down of normal market activities, it’s going to make people really struggle to find food. That is going to be a real concern.”

National Capital District governor Powes Parkop said on Wednesday that property had been looted by “opportunists” and without police the city had “lost control”.

“We have seen unprecedented level of strife in our city, something that has never happened before in the history of our city and our country,” Parkop said in a broadcast, which was live-streamed on Facebook.

“This must stop tonight.”

The PNG government ordered the military to restore order to Port Moresby, which has a population of about 400,000, The New York Times reported.

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The US embassy said gunfire could be heard near its compound on Wednesday.

Extra police were moved into the capital from regional areas, commissioner of police David Manning said.

Media showed fires burning in the city on Wednesday. The Post-Courier reported firefighters had been threatened as they tried to do their jobs. The guard house at parliament was also burnt, the newspaper reported.