The Civil Defence emergency alert that woke many New Zealanders between 1.30am and 2am on Wednesday morning.

Angry New Zealanders were jolted awake in the early hours of Wednesday morning after what was meant to be a test of an emergency alert system instead went live.

Three emergency alerts from the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM) were sent out to people's mobile phones about 1.32am, 1.33am and around 1.49am, accompanied by a loud ring tone and vibrating.

The message read: "Emergency Alert ... This is a test message for the Emergency Mobile Alert system that will be available by the end of 2017. Visit civildefence.govt.nz to find out more. Sent by the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management"

The alerts came through when the provider of the service, based in Europe, trialled it during European daytime hours. They had been meant to be restricted to a test environment, however went to Vodafone customers all around New Zealand.

Disgruntled Kiwis, potentially woken from some quality REM sleep, vented while trying to get their heart rates back down to normal.