Residents across Geelong and the Surf Coast will receive a test alert from the AusAlert system this afternoon.
The system, which has been adopted by the Australian government, is being tested nationally ahead of its official launch in October.
The alert will be delivered to all compatible mobile phones at 2pm this afternoon, with a 10 second alarm being sounded with a message to also appear on phone screens.
Emergency management minister Kristy McBain said it was an important system.
“This isn’t subject to network congestion, which is critically important in the event of an emergency,” she said.
“We’ve tested this on nine occasions, including in a cross-border test, and they have all acted how we expected them to.”
As part of the test, advice has been issued to victim-survivors of domestic violence to turn your phone either off or to airplane mode at least an hour before the test, and for at least an hour after.
