© Geoscience Australia EarthquakesA map showing the earthquake off Indonesia.
Some NT captured the shaking on video, with one clip showing a Christmas tree rocking and other showing shelves trembling.
The quake struck at a depth of 180km in the Banda Sea off the coast of eastern Indonesia about 11.17am, Geoscience Australia Earthquakes advised.
There is no tsunami threat to the Australia, the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre advised.
"We're on the third floor and it gave us a shake," Darwin-based Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Chris Kent said, and added that the quake lasted several minutes.
Some NT residents took to Facebook to report feeling tremors.
"In Humpty Doo. Thought someone was shaking the couch but no one is here but me, and the Christmas tree and TV were swaying," one woman wrote.
"Yep shook our whole couch from side to side and the Xmas tree was swaying out here in Herbert," another wrote.
"Probs the most intense tremor I have experienced in Darwin in more than 30 years. Yikes!" one man wrote.
Indonesia's disaster agency said residents in the southwest of the Moluccas island chain also felt the quake but there were no reports as yet of damage or casualties.
Indonesia experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide.
Between France and Spain, the northern mediterranian coast. . The southern pacific coast, from Valparaiso to Arequipa. . And Java, Sumatra and Borneo. . These 3 areas will see earthquakes of volcanic nature. . The changes Begin, both geophysical and human changes. -Carlos Muñoz Ferrada... @ 7:40 [Link]