Indonesia's BMKG (the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency) issued a tsunami warning soon afterwards, but that warning was lifted about an hour and 45 minutes after the quake hit, at 8.30pm local time.

There were also reports of black outs and of mobile phone networks going down in northern Lombok, near the epicentre of the quake, which has slowed down the flow of information on the number of injuries and on damage estimates.

According to BMKG, there were 20 aftershocks recorded up to 20.40pm local time. The earthquake was felt in Mataram (the capital of West Nusa Tenggara province) and Bima, and lesser shakes were felt in Denpasar, Kuta, Karangasam (in Bali) and in parts of East Java.

Najmul Akhyar, the chief government official in the North Lombok regency, said people needed blankets and tents, and that lights had gone out in North Lombok.

Australia's Home Affairs minister Peter Dutton, who is in Lombok for a counter-terrorism meeting, has told Fairfax Media the quake "was powerful enough to put us on the floor".

Dutton and his delegation, along with his New Zealand counterpart, have since been evacuated from their hotel and are standing by to be evacuated to Bali, where the quake's effects are thought to be less severe.

"We were up on the 12th floor, the lights went out and we were able to evacuate," Dutton said.

"I think we were pretty lucky in the end.

"Emergency services responded really well. They were able to evacuate us to safe ground and we are very grateful. There have been no reports of any local injures that we are aware of but we are anxiously awaiting further advice on that."

People took to social media to sound warnings, ask for prayers and share pictures of the damage to buildings.

Footage of damage to local businesses in Bali quickly emerged, too.

Australian tourist Sarah Lucy Rice, who is in holiday in Canggu, Bali, told Fairfax Media that she and her friends were eating dinner when they felt the ground begin to shake.

"I had one foot on the ground and one foot on a chair and shaking began to increase. Then we realised the earth was moving. Across the road, at a massage parlour, we saw people run out onto the street in towels and sarongs, and that's when we moved," she said.

"We stood in the middle of the road and watched the light posts shaking. It went for quite a while, increasing and peaking and then petering out again."

At the Matahari shopping centre in Denpasar, staff had a major clean up job ahead of them after roof tiles were shaken down onto the street below after the earthquake hit.

One member of staff at the Matahari shopping centre received a minor injury while trying to rush out of the building.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told KompasTV that the quake strongly jolted Mataram, the capital of West Nusa Tenggara province, and may have caused damage there.

He said the quake was also felt in parts of neighboring Bali.

Indonesia's minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, former General Wiranto, said the regional counter-terrorism summit had been postponed following the earthquake.

"All delegates who will participate are safe. And due to the quake we decided to postpone the sub-regional meeting on counter-terrorism and let delegates to go back to their countries," General Wiranto said.

A magnitude 6.4 quake hit Lombok on July 29, killing 16 people.

Like Bali, Lombok is known for pristine beaches and mountains. Hotels and other buildings in both locations are not allowed to exceed the height of coconut trees.

Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific 'Ring of Fire, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

In December 2004, a massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

with AP