Australia is seeing some panic buying at gas stations as supply fears linked to the Middle East conflict push fuel prices to record highs, even as authorities move to secure energy resources and distribution channels.

The average price of Premium 95 gasoline in New South Wales state rose to A$2.58 ($1.79) per liter on Monday, surpassing the recent high of A$2.27 recorded just 12 days earlier, according to the state's fuel price monitoring platform.

Gas stations nationwide are displaying higher prices, limiting fuel refills and putting up signs warning against fuel hoarding. Panic buying is causing shortages at some stations, especially outside cities, national broadcaster ABC reported.

Authorities said adequate fuel supplies continue to flow into the country and urged consumers not to resort to panic buying.

Australia gets most of its gasoline and diesel from refineries in the Asia-Pacific, but disruptions to crude oil supply have emerged following the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Lurion De Mello, a senior lecturer of finance at Macquarie University, said via the Scimex research portal that stockpiling, whether by households or farmers, "risks creating the very shortages we are worried about", adding that gasoline supplies remain relatively secure.

However, Australia may be more exposed to disruptions of diesel because the economy mainly runs on it, he said, adding "any interruption in their crude oil intake will flow through globally".

Ben Fahimnia, a professor of supply chain management at the University of Sydney, called the situation "primarily an upstream supply disruption".

"The blockage of the Strait of Hormuz and the reduction in regional energy production tighten global oil supply, which can rapidly push prices higher across transport, logistics and production systems," he said.

"Panic buying at the consumer level only worsens this situation. When consumers suddenly increase purchases, retailers interpret that behavior as a surge in demand and place larger orders upstream," he said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol on Monday and said the government had released 20 percent of its fuel reserves in line with the agency's recommendations.

Albanese said a range of other measures had been taken "to ensure that we secure supply and also that we deal with distribution issues".

The Middle East crisis has also disrupted global liquefied natural gas supplies, pushing up international prices. The Australian government is looking at a "windfall tax" on the domestic LNG industry, ABC reported.