The federal government has increased scrutiny of foreign acquisitions of agricultural land and earlier this month passed legislation to set up a register of overseas holdings of farm properties. Kidman's properties span 101,000 square kilometres, or about 1.3 per cent of the nation's total land area, with about 185,000 cattle.

The Woomera range "makes a unique and sensitive contribution to Australia's national defense and it is not unusual for governments to restrict access to sensitive areas on national security grounds," Mr Morrison said.

All bidders have withdrawn their applications to the Foreign Investment Review Board to buy Kidman, Mr Morrison said without identifying them, and it was "now a matter for the vendor to consider how they wish to proceed."

Greg Campbell, Kidman's chief executive, said the company was surprised by the government's decision.

"We need to go back to discussions with the Commonwealth and find out some more specifics to see whether it is possible for our bidders to find ways around those concerns," Campbell told Reuters.