Furious residents have claimed their apartment tower has been plagued by issues for years before they were 'given five minutes' to evacuate last night.
Rosalyn Lean, 65, was told to pack her bags and leave the 131-unit building on Bourke Street in Mascot, Sydney's inner south, by 9pm on Friday due to 'identifiable movements in the basement area'.
'(It was) defects in the building, it was the joints and in the last few hours the cracks have got bigger… in the car park,' she told The Daily Telegraph.
'We just saw police, they've put a notice on the lift saying this might happen, but it's happened very quickly. I've got to find a hotel.'
A crack in the slab which supports a building corner was of most concern, according to a letter from the building manager.
Residents will be without accommodation for days as engineers examine the building to make sure it is safe.
Another resident, Vitoria Krug, said she recently learned repair works were needed in the basement of the building, before she was suddenly told to evacuate.
'Around 9pm, a police officer knocked our door and said we have five minutes to leave the building with our stuff,' she told news.com.au.
Others said cracking in the building 'had been going on for years'.
Hundreds of residents have been evacuated from a high-rise apartment block after 'movement' was detected in Sydney's Mascot
Some residents were stranded overnight after they were kicked out of their apartments on Friday evening
A shop owner from an adjoining building revealed they had been plagued by cracks (pictured) on their walls for five years
Residents Leo and Belinda and their pet cat Early slept at a 'stranger's room' on Friday because they had 'nowhere to go'.
'We were told to leave last night because of basement movements. There are cracks on the beam, so it's dangerous to live, so we had to leave.'
Diner Express owner Lee has 'no idea' when he will be allowed inside his business after adjoining business owners were kicked out on Saturday morning.
'It's bad. This thing happens and people can't live here and we can't do business,' he told Daily Mail Australia.
'I just came this morning and that guy (a police officer) told me "you can't open your shop".'
Resident Brian Leggott, who has lived in the building since 2008, blamed a nearby development at Church Avenue for the problems.
'The council and government gave [the development] the green light, barely any questions asked,' he said.
'The land is tiny for the size of this development and basically squeezing Mascot Towers. This is a disgrace and I blame them for turning minor defects into major ones.'
Yet another resident, Anthony, told the ABC the building had 'so many issues from day one'.
'I guess defects happen in most apartments but you wouldn't ever have thought it would come to this,' he said.
'Especially after seeing the fiasco with the Opal Tower in Homebush, you would have never thought something like this would happen in metro Sydney.
Shop owners in businesses said they had noticed cracks on their walls and ceilings start to develop five years ago, according to 9News.
'We pretty much just moved in and now that. Very worrying. We don't know what to do. We have to take the cars and go somewhere else,' resident Fabiano De Santos said.
Resident Fabiano De Santos (pictured) was given told to leave the building after only moving in weeks before
The 11-storey building was evacuated as a precautionary on 6pm Friday
The area has been closed off by police with multiple fire trucks parked outside the building as 96 units were evacuated. Thirty-five have been deemed 'under no threat'.
A number of residents left the building of their own accord, while Fire & Rescue NSW and police also assisted people to leave the building.
A temporary shelter has been established at Mascot Town Hall, on the corner of Coward Road and Botany Road, while residents wait for
