One of Indonesia's most active volcanoes has erupted, spewing clouds of ash and panicking villagers but no evacuations have been ordered so far.

The first eruption at Mount Lokon was at 3:07am (local time) followed by two more bursts within minutes, said vulcanologist Farid Bina from a monitoring post near the volcano on Sulawesi island.

"The eruption was heard as far as 5km away, causing panic among villagers living close to the volcano," he said, adding that winds blew volcanic ash to villages up to five kilometres to the east and north-east.

"Two villages with about 10,000 people each have been affected by the ash, which stopped later in the morning."

More than 5,200 people were evacuated to temporary shelters when the 1,580-metre volcano erupted in July, sending huge clouds of ash as high as 3,500 metres into the sky.

Lokon's last deadly eruption was in 1991, killing a Swiss tourist.

AFP