According to Downdetector, reports of the outage started about 4am on Wednesday morning, with almost 8,000 reported by just after 6am.

Issues with the network have been reported across the country in Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide.

The outage is so widespread, Metro Trains in Melbourne reported issues with the the transport network due to a communication issue.

“Train services are now resuming across the Metro network after an earlier communications outage,” a spokesperson posted to X – formerly known as Twitter – at 4.40am.

“We are expecting major delays to all lines as we restore services.”

However by just after 6am, all Train services resumed across the Metro network though major delays to all lines with select alterations and cancellations expected.

Customers have also reported issues with their mobile service on social media platform X, with one dubbing the outage an “absolute failure”.

Over 600 Amaysim – the budget service provider operated by Optus – have also reported outages.

A number of frustrated customers took to social media to vent about the outage, with some describing the outage as a “failure”.

“I’ve never seen a carrier go down nationwide before, but Optus are special apparently,” one user wrote.

“Absolute failure.”

Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil issued a statement on Wednesday morning, saying the government is “seeking information from Optus on the major outage”.

“We understand from reports that the telco is working to resolve the outage as soon as possible,” the spokesperson said.

Optus has been contacted for comment.