Part of central Wellington was evacuated on Friday afternoon after police were alerted to a "suspicious bag" near a bus stop on Lambton Quay - one of the city's busiest streets.
Police say they were alerted to the unattended bag's presence at about 12pm, but later deemed it a false alarm and officers were stood down.
The area was evacuated as a precaution and cordons were in place stopping foot traffic, a spokesperson said, with vehicle traffic also diverted from the area.
One Twitter user said "hundreds of people" had been evacuated from offices and buildings in the area.
Retail store workers told Newshub they were aware of police activity but weren't sure what was going on. One said they had seen a police car parked up on the corner of Lambton Quay and Willis St.
Images from social media showed multiple police vehicles outside the David Jones department store, however within an hour all was back to normal.