The earthquake was felt just after 1.30am on Monday, with the epicentre close to the village of Sutton in Yass Valley.

Information from Geoscience Australia showed the earthquake happened at a depth of ten kilometres.

More than 140 people made reports to Geoscience Australia about the earthquake, mostly coming from Gungahlin and over the border in Sutton.

One person in Yass and another in Gundaroo also reported feeling the earthquake.

The earthquake was first recorded as a 1.7 magnitude tremor hitting near Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve, before being revised a short time later by Geoscience Australia to a magnitude 2.0 near Sutton.

Senior duty seismologist at Geoscience Australia, Dr Tanja Pejic, said many residents reported feeling tremors.

"It would be a slight, quick jolt, so it wouldn't shake for long," Dr Pejic said.

"We're definitely not expecting damage, we haven't got any reports of it."

Dr Pejic said aftershocks were not expected to happen.

It's not the first earthquake to hit near the area this year.

Back in March, two 1.6 and 1.1 earthquakes were felt in Yass Valley with the epicentres north of Yass near Blakney Creek.

"Earthquakes near Canberra are common," Dr Pejic said.

"In the past 20 years, within a 100 kilometre radius of Canberra, there's been 245 earthquakes.

"In terms of capital cities across the nation, Canberra is one of the highest rated in terms of earthquake hazard."

The largest earthquake on record for the area was estimated to be a magnitude 5.6 in 1934, near Gunning.

On average, the area experiences ten earthquakes per year, with a magnitude range of 1.1-2.8. Only 15 earthquakes have been estimated to be greater than magnitude 5, since 1886.