The 2.1 magnitude earthquake, with a 2km depth, occurred at 12.49am.
There were two felt reports, received six to seven hours after the earthquake in response to information published by Geoscience Australia.
‘‘One report from Echuca said they slept through it, so they didn’t feel anything, while the second from Rushworth reported being woken by what was likened to the sound of a truck from a direction where there was no road,’’ a spokesman said.
‘‘You could expect this earthquake to be felt very locally within just a few kilometres and by light sleepers only.’’
The spokesman said the quake was likely caused by the stress of the Australian continent or plate building up from its slow movement north and collision with other plates.
‘‘From time to time, this stress is released when the rocks fail and slip,’’ he said.
‘‘The resulting movement along a fault releases energy that we observe in the form of an earthquake and associated ground shaking.
‘‘The earthquake this morning is fairly typical in magnitude to those recorded in the past few years or indeed decades.
‘‘Interestingly there is a large structure near Echuca called the Cadell Fault which is believed to have resulted in, over time, changing the course of the Murray River tens of thousands of years ago. This earthquake could be linked to that old fault.’’
The region has experienced 13 earthquakes within a 25km radius of Echuca in the past 50 years, the largest being a 3.7 magnitude quake in 2008.