A charter plane with five people on board has crashed in Melbourne, sparking a blaze at a retail outlet centre.
A State Government spokesperson said the Beechcraft five-person charter flight to King Island crashed soon after take-off at 9am (11am NZ time).
The pilot called mayday as the plane was taking off. Victoria Police Superintendent Mick Frewen said it appeared to be affected by a "catastrophic engine failure".
The plane crashed into the back of two shops, Focus on Furniture and JB Hi Fi, he said.
A spokeswoman for the outlet's Spotlight store said part of that store's warehouse and dispatch area was also hit.
Twenty staff were in the building, but none were injured and all had been offered counselling, she said.
Police Minister Lisa Neville confirmed there were five people on board.
"It appears to be a very, very tragic accident that has occurred out there," Ms Neville said.
"It appears a light plane, which is a charter flight, has impacted the DFO [shopping centre] at Essendon Fields.
"There's also debris that's been left on the [Tullamarine] freeway."
It is not known if there are any fatalities or injuries.
Essendon Airport is a small airfield mainly used by light planes. Thirteen fire trucks were battling to control the fire.
Police said the crash occurred crashed about an hour before the Direct Factory Outlet shopping mall was due to open.
A worker at La Manna supermarket told the ABC she understood a plane had crashed into billboards near the mall.
A witness, Michael, said he saw the crash as he was driving on the freeway.
"I saw the plane swoop down and it sort of went over the shopping centre and then there was a big explosion and a black plume of smoke that came out, he told ABC Radio Melbourne.
VicRoads said a section of the Tullamarine Freeway was closed and motorists were being asked to exit the Tullamarine as soon as possible.
A spokeswoman for Airservices Australia said flights in and out of Melbourne's main airport were not affected.