Passengers at Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne airports were stuck in huge queues and facing major delays after a system outage.

The airports’ international terminals were impacted by a technical outage relating to the e-gates during Friday morning.

‘The Australian Border Force is aware of a technical outage impacting e-gates for outbound and some inbound passengers,’ a spokesperson said. 

‘Brisbane International Airport, Melbourne International Airport, and Sydney International Airport are currently impacted.

‘Additional ABF officers are being surged into work areas to manually process passengers and provide as minimal disruption as possible.

‘We appreciate travellers’ patience as we continue to work through the issue.’

Australians posted photos on social media of lines snaking through terminal aisles. 

‘Extensive queueing throughout terminal spilling into check in areas,’ one user in Sydney said.

Passengers at Sydney , Brisbane and Melbourne airports were stuck in huge queues and facing major delays after a system outage on Friday

Australians posted photos on social media of queues snaking through terminal aisles

It is understood the issue was resolved late on Friday morning, with queues beginning to clear as the systems returned to normal

The ABF confirmed later in the morning that, as of 11am AEDT, the issue has been resolved at all airports and backlogs were cleared.

The cause of the technical issue remains under investigation.

They thanked passengers again for their patience during the delays.