North Queensland has been rattled by a magnitude-3.9 earthquake, stretching from the Whitsundays to Bowen around 3:30am on Saturday.

Key points: Geoscience Australia said 73 people reported feeling the quake between Airlie Beach and Mackay

Geoscience Australia said 73 people reported feeling the quake between Airlie Beach and Mackay The earthquake could have been felt by people up to 55 kilometres away from its epicentre in the Coral Sea

The earthquake could have been felt by people up to 55 kilometres away from its epicentre in the Coral Sea There was no damage reported and there is no tsunami threat to Queensland

Geoscience Australia said 73 people had reported feeling the quake between Airlie Beach and Mackay, with the earthquake epicentre offshore from Queensland in the Coral Sea.

It is estimated the earthquake could have been felt by people up to 55 kilometres away from the epicentre.

Anthony Nobilia, who lives at Cannonvale near Airlie Beach, said he felt the tremor, which he said lasted about 30 seconds.

"I've sat through a few earthquakes in my life — this was one of the ones that actually nothing moved — all you could hear was … a rumbling sound maybe like an underground train coming in to station below you," he said.

"The train's coming in underneath you and you don't see them but you can hear them — it was that kind of sound.

"There was nothing dramatic, nothing shaking or falling."

No tsunami threat on Queensland coast

Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Hugh Glanville said there was no damage reported and it was "nowhere near" the size needed to generate a tsunami.

"Earthquakes don't generally generate tsunamis until around magnitude-6.5 or larger," he said.

"We wouldn't expect building damage from an earthquake of this size — you don't generally get damage or even minor damage until around magnitude-4.5."

Mr Glanville said boaties in the area were unlikely to have been affected.

"A lot of the different seismic waves don't travel through water or dissipate really quickly in the water," he said.

"Certain ones will transmit but a lot of it sort of gets dampened by the water so they may not have felt anything."

He said aftershocks could be expected in the area.

The Bureau of Meteorology also said there was no tsunami threat to Queensland.

The last known significant quake near Bowen came in 2016, with the magnitude-5.8 quake felt from areas between Townsville and the Sunshine Coast.

The earthquake comes just 24 hours after Canberra was struck by a 3.1-magnitude tremor, a rare event for the national capital.