Australian Defence Force planes are on their way to Tonga to assess damage from the air and deliver crucial supplies to the ground, after the weekend's massive volcano eruption in the Pacific.

A thick cloud of volcanic ash, which spewed as high as 20 kilometres into the air, delayed the flights from the Royal Australian Air Force base in Ipswich, west of Brisbane this morning.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the surveillance flights would help identify damage on roads, ports and critical infrastructure as Foreign Minister Marise Payne said an initial $1m package would be sent by Australia.

READ MORE: Tonga calls for 'immediate assistance' after volcano, tsunami

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With internet and phone lines down, friends and family members around the world were left anxiously trying to get in touch.

Government websites and other official sources have remained without updates today.

"Tonga is a close friend and partner of Australia," Mr Frydenberg said.

"It's part of that Pacific family."

The Australian airforce will work in tandem with counterparts from New Zealand, he said.

HMAS Adelaide, currently at port in Sydney, is reportedly being deployed to Brisbane where it will be loaded with supplies for Tonga.

Fiji, a close neighbour in the Pacific, also suffered bad damage.

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New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern there had not yet been any official reports of injuries or deaths, but cautioned authorities hadn't yet made contact with some coastal areas and smaller islands.

She said there had been significant damage to boats and shops along the Tongan coastline.

The capital, Nuku'alofa, was covered in a thick film of volcanic dust, Ms Ardern said, contaminating water supplies and making fresh water a vital need.

Aid agencies said thick ash and smoke had prompted authorities to ask people to wear masks and drink bottled water.

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In a video posted on Facebook, Nightingale Filihia was sheltering at her family's home from a rain of volcanic ash and tiny pieces of rock that turned the sky pitch black.

"It's really bad. They told us to stay indoors and cover our doors and windows because it's dangerous," she said.

"I felt sorry for the people. Everyone just froze when the explosion happened. We rushed home."

Outside the house, people were seen carrying umbrellas for protection.

One complicating factor to any international aid effort is that Tonga has so far managed to avoid any outbreaks of COVID-19.

The true magnitude of the volcano has yet to be confirmed.

Initially, it was estimated the plume of ash climbed 20km-high, but some reports today suggested it could be 30km.

There were also some unconfirmed reports of a second explosion just before noon (AEST), but it appeared unfounded.

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A New Zealand meteorological service posted six hours of satellite footage taken from above Tonga this morning, in an effort to try and clarify the reports.

"Earthquakes possibly," it said in a Twitter post paired with moving satellite imagery.

"But nothing visible showing up as a big eruption.

"Normal tropical clouds showing up, perhaps a very small eruption."

With Associated Press

As Tonga and surrounding Pacific island communities feel the impact of the weekend's volcanic eruption, impacts from the explosion have reached Queensland, creating dazzling light displays.

Many Queenslanders captured unusual sunrises this morning, caused by light reflecting through the huge ash cloud currently floating above the state.

"The light gets scattered through all those fine particles of ash and when we look at the sunrise and sunset, we see those brilliant different colours we've been seeing," Steve Hadley, a senior broadcaster with the Bureau of Meteorology said.

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The Sunshine Coast and north to Cook Town will see their skylines change due to the ash cloud.

"In fact, anywhere across western Queensland I think by the end of the day, there will be some ash very high in the sky over those areas, so potentially a good sunset across most of the state," Mr Hadley said.

"It's possible we could actually see some effects in the sunrises and sunsets in the next few weeks as that ash cloud gradually dissipates and circles the globe."

READ MORE: Tonga calls for 'immediate assistance' after volcano, tsunami

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The underwater eruption from Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha'apai, off Tonga's coast, sent ash and smoke 40,000 feet into the air, triggering tsunami-like wave warnings off Australia's east coast this weekend.

While ashy skies have affected flight schedules across Queensland, meteorologist Ben Domensino from Weatherzone said there is no reason for concern and that the ash has not affected air quality.

"A cloud of volcanic ash and gas can be seen passing over Queensland today, giving the sky and red tinge," Mr Domensino said.

"The ash cloud is travelling more than 40,000 feet (around 12km) above sea level, which means it's too high up in the atmosphere to directly impact people on the ground in Queensland.

"The ash cloud did, however, cause a fiery volcanic sunset this morning and is affecting some flight operations over the state."

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Novak Djokovic has arrived in Dubai after being deported from Australia last night, which evaporated all hopes of him playing in the Australian Open.

Djokovic wasted no time leaving Australia after his legal bid to stay failed yesterday, boarding an Emirates flight to the United Arab Emirates, a country that does not require travellers to be vaccinated.

It could be years before Djokovic can add to his record nine Australian Open titles, if he ever decides to return at all.

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The Australian government may choose to allow Djokovic in before the end of a three-year ban, but the Minister for Home Affairs said such speculation is simply "hypothetical".

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Djokovic could be granted a visa in the future under "the right circumstances", following the week-long legal fight which saw the star detained and deported while the world watched on.

Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews said there could be "compelling" reasons for the world No.1 to be granted a visa despite the ban.

"But that's all hypothetical at this point, any application will be reviewed on its merits," she said.

The prime minister insisted the deportation of Djokovic would not increase anti-vaccination sentiment in Australia.

"The rules are the rules," he said.

"This is about someone who sought to come to Australia but did not comply with the entry requirements at the border.

"There is the opportunity for him to return in the right circumstances."

Ms Andrews first learned Djokovic had been granted a visa thanks to a post on his Instagram account, she claimed.

Before boarding a flight for Australia, Djokovic declared he was on his way to play in the Australian Open, despite not having ever been vaccinated for the coronavirus.

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Ms Andrews rejected claims the Australian government should never have granted him a visa.

Instead, Ms Andrews said, Border Force and the Department of Home Affairs government gave him the opportunity to produce documentation on his arrival and bolster his case to enter.

"He was unable to do that," she said.

Justin Quill, a partner at law firm Thomson Geer Lawyers, said Australia looked like "clowns" in front of the world, because of the Djokovic debacle.

"You can point the finger at state, federal or Tennis Australia, but to the world at large, it's just Australia.

"We told the guy he's got an exemption, we invited him here, we gave him a visa."

The Australian Open commenced today.

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A three-hour pursuit came to a head on a major Sydney highway today with a man arrested after allegedly stealing a truck.

Police said the vehicle was taken from a home in Lidcombe, in the western suburbs, last night and was spotted by officers in Bankstown about 8.40am.

A pursuit through west and south-west Sydney then kicked off and road spikes were deployed at Oran Park but the truck ploughed through.

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PolAir tracked the vehicle and its driver from the air and police finally cornered them on the Cumberland Highway at Smithfield.

A police 4WD was rammed and rubber bullets were used to shatter the front windscreen of the allegedly stolen truck.

A 33-year-old male driver allegedly resisted and tried to assault the officers before he was arrested after a short struggle.

READ MORE: Tonga calls for 'immediate assistance' after volcano, tsunami

He was treated at the scene by paramedics and taken to Westmead Hospital with shoulder injuries.

He is under police guard and will undergo a drug and alcohol test before he is taken to a police station, where he is likely to face serious charges.

Archaeologists have discovered a 4500-year-old highway network in Saudi Arabia lined with well-preserved ancient tombs.

Researchers from the University of Western Australia have carried out a wide-ranging investigation over the past year, involving aerial surveys conducted by helicopter, ground survey and excavation and examination of satellite imagery.

In findings published in the Holocene journal in December, they said the "funerary avenues" spanning large distances in the northwestern Arabian counties of Al-'Ula and Khaybar had received little examination until quite recently.

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"The people who live in these areas have known about them for thousands of years," researcher Matthew Dalton told CNN.

"But I think it wasn't really known until we got satellite imagery that just how widespread they are."

Mr Dalton said the funerary avenues, which he had seen from a helicopter, stretched for hundreds, "maybe even thousands of kilometres" and that the same routes were often followed by those travelling along the main roads of today.

"Often you'll find main roads tend to follow the same routes as the avenues because they tend to be the shortest route between the two places they're going to," Mr Dalton said.

"And actually, in some cases, the tombs themselves are so dense that you can't help but walk on the ancient route itself, because you're sort of hemmed in by the tombs."

The tombs themselves are mostly either pendant-shaped or ring burials.

Ring tombs involve a cairn surrounded by a wall of up to two meters in height, while pendant tombs have "beautiful tails."

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Using radiocarbon dating, the researchers determined that a concentrated group of samples dated back to between 2600 and 2000 BC, although the tombs continued to be reused until around 1000 years ago.

"These tombs are 4500 years old, and they're still standing to their original height, which is really unheard of," researcher Melissa Kennedy told CNN.

"So I think that's what particularly marks Saudi Arabia out from the rest of the region – just the level of preservation is unbelievable."

READ MORE: 'Cluster' of eruptions expected from Tonga volcano

Ms Kennedy believes either single individuals or small groups were buried in the tombs, and the team have observed around 18,000 tombs along the funerary avenues while 80 of those have been sampled or excavated for research.

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The researchers think the use of the routes long preceded the tombs, and are still not sure exactly why the tombs were built along the route – although Ms Kennedy pointed to similar customs linked to land ownership in Greece and Rome in later history.

"A way of showing ownership perhaps, could be one reason the tombs were built," Mr Dalton said. "And there may be an element of, you bury your nearest and dearest alongside the route, because you'll be passing them frequently, and you have a place to remember them."

The next step for the team will be to do more radiocarbon dating and go back out on the field, before analysing their data. And more discoveries are likely to follow, with Mr Dalton saying the avenues may even stretch across into Yemen, especially as similar tombs are found in both that country and northern Syria.

"The third millennium is such an important period of time," Ms Kennedy said.

"It's when the Pyramids are built. And it's where lots of different cultures are interacting with each other for the first time on a wide scale.

"So to see the appearance of this monumental funerary landscape in this period is really exciting.

"And huge new avenues of research to basically follow."

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