An international flight departing Melbourne was forced to do a U-turn over the center of Australia on Thursday morning and return to the airport.

The VietJet flight bound for Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam departed Melbourne Airport about 3am but landed back there 6 hours and 37 minutes later, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.

The tracking data shows VJ82 turned around before it reached the border of South Australia and Northern Territory – less than two hours into the flight.

It then circled over regional Victoria for about three hours before finally landing at 9.30am.

According to the data, the Airbus A330 was cruising at 10,980 metres (36,023 feet) and began descending as it turned back to Melbourne to 7620 metres (25,000 feet).

News.com.au has contacted VietJet for comment.