The ACT Emergency Services Agency will lead an operation that is set to target streets in Conder, Turner, O’Connor, Fadden, Gowrie, Macarthur, Gungahlin and Cotter Reserve between midday and 4pm.

A voice or text message will be sent to about 600 landlines and 5000 mobile phones to test the alert, which could be used in the event of large-scale emergencies such as fires or flooding.

Serious flaws were revealed the last time the system was used in the ACT, when a chemical fire broke out in Mitchell in 2011.

The emergency alert, which had not been tested on such a mass scale before that incident, did not reach many residents in surrounding suburbs, and some of the messages that went out contained spelling errors that made recipients question whether they were legitimate.

ACT Emergency Services Agency commissioner Dominic Lane said there had been significant improvements to the national telephone warning system since then.

''We know the technology works, we know it's been used multiple times in the field,'' he said.

Saturday would be the first time it had been tested in the ACT, and the trial was largely to make sure emergency management officers were comfortable with the system, Mr Lane said.

The alert system will use location information from Telstra, Optus and Vodafone to reach all phone users in a designated area.

ACT ESA emergency management policy officer Tony Hanson said a team of 10 would test eight different alert systems and not all residents in the targeted suburbs would receive a message.

Mr Lane said the phone alert would be one of many tools employed to get the word out to the community in an emergency.

‘‘While the emergency alert system is an important tool for us, it is never be the only tool residents should rely on in an emergency event,’’ Mr Lane said.

''I strongly urge people to look at different media, the ESA website and the ESA Twitter and Facebook accounts.

''They also need to share information with their neighbours, family, friends and vulnerable people.''