Victoria Police has deemed the area close to the busy Melbourne Showgrounds safe, after fears that a man who was pounced on in a dramatic citizens' arrest was carrying a bomb.

The bomb squad was sweeping the area on Thursday morning after a 25-year-old man was apprehended by workers at a North Melbourne car wash about 10am on Racecourse Road.

Police and Bomb Response Unit officers in North Melbourne on Thursday Credit:AAP/David Crosling

Businesses in the area had been evacuated and Racecourse Road blocked to traffic between Flemington and Boundary roads.

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the area was deemed safe about 12.30pm and the road reopened to traffic. She did not have an update on the man who had been arrested.