Police said officers from the Monaro Police District responded to reports of an armed robbery at Hotel Queanbeyan on Crawford Street about 12.20am. They said a gunshot was fired during the robbery. Nobody was injured.

A short time later, a grey Mitsubishi Triton utility,  believed to be involved in the incident, was found on fire nearby.

Hotel Queanbeyan manager Mathew Griffin said the doors had been locked, and two staff had been there at the time, but no patrons. It was the first time he knew of that something like that had happened there.

“I'm a bit rattled but I wasn’t there at the time but I’m glad that the staff were safe," he said.

“It not a nice thing to happen to anyone.”

The back door that leads to a small car park and the bottle shop was smashed. Crews arrived at the scene about 10am to begin fixing the damage. Mr Griffin said the business was back to operating as normal.

Police are now calling for public assistance to locate two men last seen driving a silver sedan on Pialligo Street, Majura.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or at https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au