How many people does it take to clean up a fuel spill that's causing Perth peak hour traffic to descend into chaos? Just one apparently, and five others to watch on.

Perth traffic came to a stand-still on Tuesday afternoon after a large fuel truck jack-knifed on the Mitchell Freeway south-bound, blocking all lanes and forcing Main Roads to close parts of the freeway and set up major road diversions.

A still image from 7 News Perth's aerial vision of Tuesday's freeway clean-up. Credit:Twiiter / 7 News Perth

Some drivers reported being stuck in traffic for hours, as cars were diverted off the freeway onto the Graham Farmer Freeway, and traffic trying to exit the CBD during peak hour became caught up in the commuting nightmare.