Hunter residents have taken to social media in big numbers overnight to report a loud bang.
People from right across Lake Macquarie, Newcastle, Port Stephens and the Coalfields say they heard an explosion just before 10 o'clock.
Some say it shook their house while others say they saw a blue flash.
It appears to be linked to a power fault at Warners Bay at about the same time, which cut electricity to 19-hundred homes..
Ausgrid says the outage was caused by a possum.
