The adult goannas (also known as Gould's monitors or sand monitors) were spotted through the office window of an environmental consultancy just south of Alice Springs.

Photographer Chris Watson was working there at the time and raced outside with his camera.

"I was lucky enough to have the window desk...goannas used to go about their day to day business right in front of us really, but this was the first time I'd seen this," he said.

"These two males locked horns and were fighting over the local female monitor who'd dug her burrow there.

"They were fighting for about ten minutes, wrestling and throwing each other around."

Mr Watson says the sand monitors, the second largest goannas in the region after the Perentie, were oblivious to his presence.

"I was just lying on the dirt beside them and they just kept going at it and I was able to get really close," he said.

"They were throwing each other clear of the ground, then they'd spend a long time locked in an embrace, wrestling and clawing at each other's throats.

"It was exhausting to watch."

Reptile specialist Peter Gunn has lived in the region for over a decade and says he's never witnessed a courtship battle between goannas, who are usually quite shy around humans.

"It's normally something that's going for at the most a couple of minutes," he said.

"You've got to be pretty lucky to encounter it."

An image of the battle has featured in the latest edition of Australian Geographic.