Chants of ‘let it burn’ as fire breaks out at Old Parliament House in Canberra

Old Parliament House in Canberra has caught alight, and a crowd outside has reportedly chanted “let it burn”.

Melbourne chef Adrian Richardson witnessed the blaze.

“There’s a lot of police, there’s a lot of police with flags all waving and screaming, a lot of fire trucks,” he told Shane McInnes, filling in for Neil Mitchell.

“I saw the balcony above the front steps bursting into flames.”

Mr Richardson says a group near the site were chanting “let it burn”.

ACT firefighters responded to reports of the blaze at about 11.45am.

It was extinguished in less than 15 minutes.

The cause of the fire is not clear.

Press PLAY below to see footage of the fire

Press PLAY below to hear Adrian Richardson’s account of what’s happening

Video: Adrian Richardson