It is just after 10:00pm on a Friday night and most restaurants in Canberra are taking their last orders and soaping down their kitchens.

But one cafe in the city's inner south has only just opened its doors, and every seat in the house is taken.

Given the string of late-night bars and speakeasies dotted about the city, a busy venue might not seem peculiar — but the steady flow of law enforcement officers trickling through its door is.

Kita is Canberra's only after-hours cafe, and since opening last October, it has been dubbed the 'cop cafe'.

Changing the perception of late-night snacks

The concept for the family-run business stemmed from father Gavin Young — a member of the Australian Federal Police.

"The idea first came about 17 years ago," Mr Young said.

"I was at work with colleagues just talking, and they knew my wife's family had Indonesian cafes in the past.

"They were like 'tell them to open one up at night, because we don't have anything. We've only got Maccas and that's pretty much it.'"

Kita serves up coffee and food after 9pm from its Narrabundah location. ( ABC News: Elle Conway )

About 1,363 emergency service personnel currently work the night shift in the ACT.

And many are happy to have a new place to grab a bite to eat.

"We get a lot of the Woden and Tuggeranong patrols come out," Mr Young said.

"There's anywhere from two people to about 20 on their shift changeovers.

"They'll come and grab a coffee before they start work, and so the locals named it the 'cop cafe' pretty quickly."

And Mr Young said the police presence also had a positive impact on Kita's customers.

"They do feel safe," he said.

"A lot of the female students don't feel safe at the university libraries at 2:00am, but the staff make sure they get out to their cars and everything like that.

"And if anything does happen, the response time would be pretty quick."

'Cop cafe' a rare haunt for police and partygoers

Mr Young's wife, Evi, is from South Sumatra, Indonesia.

She runs the kitchen — serving up laksa, mie goreng, and pandan waffles between 9:00pm and 6:00am Wednesday to Sunday morning.

The couple's 19-year-old son, Zac, manages the front of house.

He said while the cafe targeted shift workers and students, the clientele ranged from medical staff to partygoers ending their night out, to a fantasy author and families struggling to get their young babies to sleep.

"Because it's such an interesting concept and a niche market, it sparks a lot of conversation," he said.

"It allows me to be quite close with my customers."

Pastry chefs Jaleene De Villa and Lily Whiting frequent Kita. ( ABC News: Elle Conway )

Lily Whiting and Jaleene De Villa are both in their 20s and work full-time as pastry chefs.

They call into Kita at least once a week to purchase takeaway food, or to debrief over a hot drink and a meal with their colleagues at the end of a shift.

"We work from 7:00pm until 3:00am or 4:00am, and sometimes, if we do overtime, we don't finish until 5:00am or 5:30am," Ms De Villa said.

"We don't get to socialise at all because of our shifts, so it's a nice opportunity to come here as a team."

"Once you sit down you can sort of forget the fact that it might be 4:00am or 5:00am," Ms Whiting said.

"Here you can just be a normal person at a cafe, at a normal hour."

Sparks fly as power points lure students

Housemates Zach Ghirardello and Aidan Lewis at Kita, a favourite study spot. ( ABC News: Elle Conway )

University students make up a large chunk of Kita's customers, and housemates Zach Ghirardello and Aidan Lewis are among them.

They have been frequenting the cafe since it opened — pairing late-night study sessions with coffee and a healthy meal.

"There are no real facilities like this on campus," Mr Ghirardello said.

The flatmates said studying at the University of Canberra (UC) and Australian National University (ANU) libraries overnight could often be problematic.

Mr Lewis said at UC only the ground floor was accessible after hours, and it was often swamped with students.

"It's usually pretty loud - it's not really a good study atmosphere, I guess," he said

"During exam period you've got thousands of kids fighting for the two libraries that are 24/7 and that's it," Mr Ghirardello agreed.

But the pair said Kita had been very accommodating.

"You just send Zac a message and say, 'Can we have a table?' and he'll be like, 'Yeah, sure. Do you want a power plug?'" Mr Lewis said.

New sleeping patterns and new relationships

Kita only serving dinner after 9:00pm. ( ABC News: Elle Conway )

Manager Zac Young has had to reshuffle his sleeping pattern to run the family cafe.

"I'm a little bit younger, so I take advantage of that," he said.

"And because I'm always on my feet at work, it hasn't been too bad."

But he said he had also had to make sacrifices when it came to his social life.

"The only thing I do sort of miss is not being able to see friends play gigs, or go to concerts," he said.

"But I'm still doing the job which I love, which makes up for it."

And he said meeting people through Kita had made his switch to night shifts worth it.