Egypt's army has vowed not to fire on demonstrators taking part in a planned "March of Millions" in central Cairo.

Protesters have called for at least 1 million Egyptians to flood Cairo's Tahrir Square on Tuesday to mark the start of a second week of deadly protests against the regime of embattled president Hosni Mubarak.

This morning the country's powerful army said it would not fire on protesters during the march, scheduled for Tuesday (local time).

"To the great people of Egypt, your armed forces, acknowledging the legitimate rights of the people," stress that "they have not and will not use force against the Egyptian people," said a statement published by the state news agency, Mena.

Soldiers and army tanks are positioned all over the capital, but they have failed to stop the protests or enforce the nightly curfew.

As the capital prepares for the huge march, the government has now agreed to hold talks with protesters.

Reports on state television say newly-appointed vice-president Omar Suleiman will meet a protest leader and the meeting will be broadcast live in Tahrir Square.

Yesterday Mr Mubarak ordered police back onto the streets, but so far they also appear to be refraining from using force.

As the chaos continues to unfold, the Federal Government has announced it will send a Qantas plane to evacuate Australians stranded in Egypt on Wednesday.

Thousands of Egyptians are still rallying in Cairo, Alexandria and other cities, although the capital is now showing signs of returning to normal life.

Traffic is returning to the streets and many businesses are open, but military helicopters continue to circle overhead and drivers are finding many roads still blocked by the army.

The army appears to hold the key to Mr Mubarak's fate - although the generals have held back from crushing the revolt, they have also not withdrawn support for the president, raising questions as to which side the military is on.

To maintain their momentum, demonstrators are calling on all Egyptians to join a national strike and the March of Millions on Tuesday (local time) to force the president from power.

The protesters say they will not stop until Mr Mubarak goes, but security is becoming more of an issue as prisoners have staged mass jailbreaks and reports of looting emerge.

There are signs that Mr Mubarak is wanting to show he is starting to listen to demonstrators' complaints; instructing his new prime minister to bring back confidence in the economy and reduce unemployment.

But his promise to implement political reforms has done little to silence his opponents.

Wahil Nawara of the opposition Al-Ghad Party says he wants the protests to end as soon as possible, but it can only happen when the president steps down.

"Prolonging the situation any longer will have negative effects on the stability of the country and it will be seen as putting the country into duress," he said.

"I really hope in my heart that president Mubarak will get this message, there is nothing personal, we should just rise above ourselves and try to spare Egypt any undue confrontation."

The president has also appointed a new interior minister as part of a revamped cabinet, designed to defuse the most serious challenge to his rule in three decades.

The protests in the world's most populous Arab nation broke out last week when frustration over repression and the lack of democracy under Mr Mubarak's rule boiled over.

At least 125 people have been killed in clashes with security forces in scenes that overturned Egypt's standing as a stable country, promising emerging market and attractive tourist destination.

Meanwhile, looters have pillaged a number of warehouses containing ancient Egyptian artefacts, stealing and damaging some of them.

A group of looters attacked a warehouse at the Qantara Museum near the city of Ismailia on the Suez Canal that contained 3,000 objects from the Roman and Byzantine periods, a source at the tourism police said.

An archaeologist said warehouses near the pyramids of Saqqara and Abu Sir were also looted.

- ABC/BBC/Reuters