Police will work through the night to identify who was on board a light plane that crashed and burst into flames near Canberra.

NSW Police Superintendent Cath Bradbury said there were no survivors following the  "catastrophic collision".

The wreckage of the small single-engine aircraft was found after 3pm on a property in Hadlow Street in Gundaroo in the NSW Southern Tablelands.

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"We're still working on who was in the plane and how many, we do not know those details at this stage, it is very early in our investigation," Bradbury said.

"Police will be working through the night with a crime scene."

A small grassfire started as a result of the crash, which the Rural Fire Service extinguished.

It is understood a local resident saw the smoke and called emergency services.

"The collision is heavy impact, which has caused a fire," Bradbury said.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has been notified and will attend the scene tonight.

"There's minimal witnesses obviously being in a remote area," Bradbury said.

"There's not a lot of other avenues for determining what happened.

"At this stage we will be processing our crime scene investigation tonight and hopefully establish over a period of time what the cause was."

9News understands the five-seater Cirrus S-R-22 took off from Canberra Airport just after 2.30pm.

The aircraft tracked south near Queanbeyan then flew north.

Six minutes later, the plane made a sharp plunge near Lake George with air traffic control unable to establish communications with the pilot.

It is understood the plane is registered to a Queensland flying club.