Today's police operation in Wollongbar which closed the Bruxner Highway and shut down NSW TAFE caused social media speculation as details of the situation were difficult to ascertain while the operation was ongoing.

At 2pm a 45 year old man was taken into custody with no injuries and taken to Lismore Base Hospital for assessment. He was alone at his property.

Peter McKenna Assistant Commissioner and Commander (ACC) of the Northern Region addressed the media earlier this afternoon to answer questions.

ACC McKenna confirmed that police were called to a property in Wollongbar as there was a concern for the occupant's welfare.

"I'd like to say that the public were instrumental in assisting us with that operation, in listening to police and being guided by the police in the area because we had to shut down parts of Wollongbar for a period of time.

"The man is being assessed at the moment, at Lismore Base Hospital and then will be assisting police with some inquiries."

"So, I just wanted to say thank you to the community for their understanding of the operation. I know it is inconvenient at times when you shut down locations, but we do that for everyone's safety. On this particular occasion, we had really experienced police in the area with our Tactical Police and Highly Trained Police Negotiators and what resulted was an operation where no one was injured, and both the police and the person involved were able to resolve (the situation) very safely without any issues."

When asked about firearms and explosives, ACC McKenna said, "We're still working through all that as we speak. The police are searching the property at the moment. But it was a police operation where we had concerns for the safety of that person and the community and that is why we asked the community to leave that exclusion area. Leave that to the police and go about their business in other areas. There was no concern for the community generally."

The NSW TAFE was shut down during the operation as a precaution only as the man did not leave his property.

"We take precautions in jobs like this and one of the precautions was to evacuate local areas, just around that exclusion zone and that's all it is."

As to the size of the exclusion zone which included closing the Bruxner Highway from McLeans Ridges Road to Sneaths Road in Wollongbar.

"I wouldn't say it was significantly large, it was just appropriate for the circumstances of this particular operation."

At the time of writing, Live Traffic (4:30pm) Live Traffic is still showing the Bruxner Highway closed to all traffic.