Uber has suspended a driver in Australia while police investigate allegations that he told a passenger he led an organisation related to Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) and planned to blow up Parliament House, the ride-hailing company said on Monday.

The passenger, a woman who declined to be identified out of fear for her safety, said she was heading home from downtown Canberra after a night out with friends when she caught an Uber early on Sunday morning.

According to the woman, the driver said he was from Pakistan and asked if she had "ever eaten human flesh".

He said he planned to blow up a Canberra shopping mall as well as Parliament House and told her he was not taking her to her home on the outskirts of the city but to the town of Cooma, 60 miles to the south, the woman said.

She said she told the driver to pull over at a petrol station so she could use the toilet, and called the police emergency number from there. Two police cars arrived about 10 minutes later, she said.