More than a dozen heavily armed police have stormed Westmeadows Tavern, following a failed burglary.

A several-hour ‘siege’ at a Melbourne pub involving dozens of heavily armed tactical police, armoured vehicles and helicopters has come to an unusual end.

Authorities were first called to Westmeadows Tavern in the city’s north at about 5am after receiving a report of a burglary in progress.

When the first officers arrived, a female employee – believed to be a cleaner – ran from the building to say two men carrying firearms had broken in and held her captive, before she managed to escape.

It sparked a major police operation involving members of the Special Operations Group, Critical Incident Response team and the dog squad, which culminated in some 15 officers storming the pub just after 10am.

For the next five hours, Victoria Police remained tight-lipped about the incident before it was finally confirmed at 3pm that no one was found in the building.

Investigations are continuing and anyone with information has been urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Before entering the building this morning, police had been using a loudspeaker in a bid to communicate with the two men they believed were inside, repeatedly asking them to answer the pub’s telephone.

“Come out without anything in your hands,” an officer could be heard saying.

Heavily armed officers enter the Westmeadows Tavern @theheraldsun pic.twitter.com/oM1rOqb6Yc — Sharon McGowan (@Sharon_McGowan_) March 1, 2020

Streets surrounding the premises were blocked and an exclusion zone was implemented, with police urging people to avoid the area.

The pub is in proximity to a daycare centre and live footage from the scene earlier showed shocked parents being ushered away as they arrived to drop off their children.

Workers in a number of nearby shops were told to stay inside.

Aside from the female worker, who was not physically harmed in the incident, there was no one else inside the building at the time of the attempted robbery.

The Herald Sun reported that the venue has been targeted by burglars a number of times in recent years.

Bruce Allan, a local who lives nearby, told the newspaper that he was shocked to wake to find police swarming the area.

“Initially, I thought it was a car accident or something but then I got told it was a siege in the pub. It’s pretty scary,” he said.

“My son used to work there up until a few months back. It was robbed twice while he was there. Its happened probably four or five times over the past few years. It’s usually the bottle shop but I don’t know what it is this time.”

Victoria Police confirmed they are at the Westmeadows Tavern following reports of an armed burglary in progress. https://t.co/fBlQ0et6X6 — Twitter Moments Australia (@MomentsAU) March 1, 2020

Earlier this month, there was a shooting in the carpark of a McDonald’s restaurant just minutes down the road, after police approached a suspicious vehicle.

The male driver allegedly drove at speed at the officers and rammed their vehicle, with one of the police forced to open fire. The man was hit in the shoulder.