An Australia Post mail centre in Canberra was evacuated in the early hours of Friday morning after two packages containing white powder, addressed to the Australian Christian Lobby, were discovered.

A spokesman for Australia Post confirmed to Fairfax Media that police HAZMAT units and the ACT Emergency Services Agency had conducted tests on two items received at the mail centre and that operations had now returned to normal.

"Australia Post takes the safety of all of our staff extremely seriously. Relevant authorities evacuated the Canberra Mail Centre early this morning following the detection of a suspicious mail item," the spokesman said.

ACT Police confirmed about 30 staff had been evacuated during the incident and that it had examined two packages addressed to the Christian Lobby.