An Australian airport had to be closed after being engulfed by dense black smoke from a burning power station after explosions rang out at the site.

Tallawarra Power Station on the shores of Lake Illawarra, was in flames in dramatic scenes on Saturday afternoon, forcing the closure of Shellharbour Airport 90 minutes south of Sydney.

Hundreds of thousands of Wollongong and Unanderra residents have been urged to stay indoors because of toxic smoke from the raging blaze. 

Fire and Rescue NSW responded to ‘numerous’ triple-0 calls about explosions at the plant followed by huge plumes of smoke in the aftermath.

Tallawarra is a gas-fired power station at Yallah Bay owned by EnergyAustralia.

It has a 435 megawatt generation capacity, enough to supply power to up to 200,000 homes.

It supplies electricity to the entire state of NSW during periods of high demand.

The fire service sent 16 trucks to the site where it is understood more than 100,000 litres of oil caught on fire.

It is thought the huge fire could burn for up to four days. 

Channel Nine was reporting the fire forced the closure of Shellharbour Airport at Albion Park.

Black smoke filled the surrounding air and was seen across the Illawarra region, on the the New South Wales south coast, on Saturday afternoon.

Fire crews were trying desperately to extinguish the blaze on Saturday. 

More to come