A Virgin Australia spokesperson confirmed the airline made the decision to divert the plane to Adelaide and a "disruptive passenger" was forcibly removed by the Australian Federal Police.

It is understood that when airline stewards tried to calm the woman she threatened to kill people if they did not stop the plane.

The plane landed in Adelaide just after midnight before taking off again at 1am.

Adelaide Airport has a restriction on flights between 11pm and 6am, but aircraft are allowed to breach the curfew in exceptional circumstances.

The flight had been due to leave Melbourne at 8.30pm on Thursday, but had already been delayed by an hour due to poor weather.

The plane landed in Perth at 3.15am local time on Friday, four hours after schedule.

The incident comes after a Sri Lankan man threatened to set off a bomb on an international flight from Melbourne last year.

Manodh Marks, 26, forced Malaysia Airlines flight MH128 bound for Kuala Lumpur to turn back soon after take-off when he screamed that he had a bomb in May 2017.

The visibly agitated, ice-fuelled Marks ran down the aisle of the Airbus A330 holding two electronic devices with flashing blue lights, saying he was going to blow up the plane.

Marks, who was actually holding a speaker device and a power bank, was jailed for 12 years on Thursday with a minimum term of nine years.