“We’ve spoken to police.

“We’ve got our teams looking at CCTV footage ... to try to understand. It’s most likely a hoax, however, we’ve got to protect our staff and keep everyone safe as much as we can.”

He said the plan was to evacuate the building.

“That’s a sensible thing to do, so we can go through and have a check as to whether there’s anything untoward.”

The evacuation happened during the lunch break of a council meeting. The meeting has since resumed.

Rotorua Lakes Council posted on its Facebook about 1.45pm that its Civic Centre would be closed for the rest of the day.

This was as a precaution following a similar security threat to others nationwide.

“While the risk is considered low, staff safety is our priority,” the post said.

Limited customer services were temporarily operating from the Rotorua Library. Other council facilities and open spaces remained open.

Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell said it was “surprising and sad” that people were left to feel unsafe in workplaces and schools today.

“Bomb threats are not something that we expect or tolerate in our country or communities, and we’re really feeling for those who were impacted or felt scared for themselves or loved ones,” Tapsell said.

“Threats of violence are unacceptable, especially towards our schools and children.”

She praised the swift response from the police and hoped those behind the threat would be held to account.

Rotorua Lakes Council chief executive Andrew Moraes said staff had been asked to work from home.

He said that even if the threat proved “unfounded or vexatious”, it was not harmless and caused real disruption.

Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin said police believed the threats to be low risk.

“The cybercrime team, supported by staff in other police districts, have initiated an investigation and are working to determine the source of the emails.”