Motorists called emergency services to the scene shortly before 3pm on Tuesday.

The car was well alight and continued to burn for sometime after Maitland Fire and Rescue arrived.

Witnesses said the vehicle appeared to be a Suzuki Vitara and was almost burnt beyond recognition.

One lane of traffic in Johnson Street was closed near the Hungry Jacks exit.

“The car just blew up in flames all of a sudden and there were a couple of loud explosions,” said witness Roydon Smith of Aberglasslyn.

“There were a lot of people standing around trying to see what was going on.

“It looked pretty spectacular,” he said.

Another witness said the fire broke out rather quickly and didn’t take long to engulf the car.