Fire crews are starting to decontaminate the site of a large chemical fire that has shut down part of Canberra.
They finally extinguished the fire on Friday night, 22 hours after it began.
The fire broke out at a building in an industrial estate in the north Canberra suburb of Mitchell at about 2am on Friday, spewing a large cloud of smoke across the city's skyline.
Witnesses said a series of explosions during the fire sent flames shooting up to 200 metres into the air.
Australian Capital Territory fire chief Paul Swain says the fire broke out in a bulk store of flammable oil in a business that recycles oil used in transformers.
Suburb remains off-limits
The suburb of Mitchell remains off-limits for the entire weekend.
Emergency Services Minister Simon Corbell says he understands the exclusion zone will be frustrating for many business owners in the industrial suburb but says:
"There'll need to be some close examination of what has been the impact in the location and for that reason Mitchell will be closed until at least Monday morning."
Atmospheric monitoring is continuing and one possible toxin indicator was detected on Friday, but authorities say it was well within safe limits.
