A semi-trailer carrying hundreds of rolls of toilet paper caught fire in Brisbane overnight.

The B-double semi-trailer caught fire on the north-bound lane of the Gateway Bridge just before 10:00pm requiring two fire crews to extinguish it.

"This is not overly common, particularly around the city areas but the main thing is no-one got hurt tonight and we've been able to save quite a lot of toilet paper," fire officer Justin Francis said.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 33 seconds 33 s A policeman at the Gateway Bridge toilet roll truck fire (Supplied: QPS)

The blaze comes as supermarket aisles across the country are stripped of toilet paper over fears coronavirus will lead to households being placed in isolation.

"There was quite an interesting fuel load on this particular vehicle as we believe toilet paper is quite precious at the moment, so we've been able to save half the load on this particular truck," he said.

The driver managed to escape the cabin and was unharmed.

A truck carrying toilet paper caught fire on the Gateway Bridge in Brisbane. ( ABC News )

Mr Francis said the fire looked to have been caused by a mechanical fault.

Traffic was backed up after the north-bound lane was closed for several hours.

All lanes on the bridge have now been reopened