A number of buildings also contained flammable insulation material that did not comply with building codes.

Some of the fire defects were found in previous audits but had not been fixed.

According to an audit from Norman Disney and Young, carried out in 2018, one unspecified Braddon public housing complex was considered to be of the highest risk.

"Due to the critical nature and extent of a number of the defects identified," it read.

Common fire hazards found in the audit included fire hose reels not actually being able to access residential units, unit doors not being fire rated and no fire detection units in common areas.

Some complexes were missing fire extinguishers while in others required exits were not compliant with building codes.

The documents were released under freedom of information laws.

Housing ACT said all the defects found in the audit were fixed by this year.

The audit also found insulation materials in car park slabs in a number of the buildings appeared to be Styrofoam or a similar flammable foam.

"Therefore does not comply with [Building Code of Australia] materials and linings requirements and presents a significant risk of contributing to fire spread and severity," it read.

The audit addressed 11 properties in Braddon, Turner, Chisholm, Downer, Lyons and O'Connor.

The specific addresses of the properties were redacted.

They were all either two or three storeys and ranged from eight to 21 units.

Exit signage or emergency lighting at some properties were found to be deficient, either missing or obscured.

In one property, stairs which led to required exits were not provided with fire doors to car park exits to the ground floor.

"Therefore there is no fire separation between car park and residential corridors," the report read.

There were also issues with concrete filled steel columns in a car park which did not have the appropriate fire resistance level.

The audit said it appeared that previously identified defects had generally not been adequately addressed.

The audit also found defects previously not identified.

"However it appears these may have been beyond the scope of precious audits," the report read.

The audit did not identify combustible cladding or facade materials because this could not be done without invasive or destructive testing.

Building Quality Minister Gordon Ramsay would not reveal if public housing units were among the 77 housing units found to contain potentially combustible cladding.

A Housing ACT spokeswoman said all the defects and risks identified had now been rectified.

She said a final report and inspection was undertaken by a consultant to confirm all works had been completed.

The spokeswoman said all tenants received correspondence saying fire related works were being undertaken.

"Access Canberra and ACT Fire and Rescue were consulted about the required works, both agreed that there was no unreasonable risk to tenants and no need for any tenants to be relocated," she said.

She said the issues were first brought to Housing ACT's attention in June, 2017.

The audit reviewed the status of previous audit recommendations and existing fire engineering reports.

The audits were undertaken against the building code identified in previous audits, or the code that was applicable at the time of construction.

Individual units were not inspected as access was not available.

It comes as a five-year-old public housing block in Braddon has sat empty for more than three years after tenants were moved for what the ACT government said were fire safety and construction issues.