A man with explosives who falsely claimed to be holding hostages in a hotel room in Australia's Gold Coast tourist strip surrendered to police today after a 16-hour siege.
"Police confirm there were no hostages inside the room," Queensland state police said in a statement. "There were a number of devices inside the room."
Police feared the 43-year-old man may have booby-trapped the room, which had its door sealed, possibly with nails and a sealant, after explosives were found there.
The unidentified man made no demands during the siege, which ended peacefully.
"No one was injured during the resolution of the incident," police said.
It was not immediately clear why the man had explosives or why he sealed himself in the room but police said "domestic issues" seemed to have sparked his siege.
Australia, a strong US ally which was quick to send troops to Afghanistan and Iraq, has never suffered a major terror attack on home soil but has been on heightened alert since the September 11th, 2001, attacks on the United States.