A 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck eastern Indonesia has been felt in some parts of northern Australia.

The quake which struck in the Banda Sea near Indonesia's Barat Daya islands in Maluku province on Sunday night was felt by residents in Australia's Queensland and the Northern Territory.

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake that struck eastern Indonesia has been felt in some parts of northern Australia.

The quake had a depth of 132 kilometres, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Jonathan Bathgate, senior seismologist at Geoscience Australia, cautioned residents in the area to expect aftershocks.

"Certainly from an earthquake of this size, there will be a number of earthquakes that follow it in the region," he told ABC.

"They generally are smaller and become less frequent over time. But, even high magnitude fives in the Banda Sea can certainly be felt in Darwin."

"It went for quite a length of time, around 30 seconds... We had books moving," Steph Bond, senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology in Darwin, told AAP.

Amin Bin Tongke, chief search and rescue official for Maluku province, told AP the quake did not result to any major catastrophe in the affected areas.

"The quake is in a really remote area, near a cluster of small islands away from cities or towns, with a very small population," he said.

The Pacific Ring of Fire

Indonesia is prone to seismic upheavals due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire,'' an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

Apart from Indonesia, there are 31 other countries situated in the area of the Ring of Fires, including Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Columbia, Japan, New Zealand, USA, and etc.

Its coverage extends from Australia to Asia to North America and to South America.