A Malaysia Airlines flight returned safely to Melbourne airport just minutes after takeoff following an engine fire alert going off in the cockpit.

The Airbus A330 aircraft MH148 was heading from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur and was carrying 300 passengers who were all disembarked during the emergency landing.

"There was an emergency declared, there was an 'engine fire' alert in the cabin. The plane proceeded to dump the fuel and returned to land and it landed safely at the aviation rescue sites," an Air services Australia spokeswoman said, Reuters reported.

Upon inspection, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said there was no indication of fire after the plane landed.

The Malaysia Airlines issued a statement about the incident, saying that a preliminary inspection revealed no evidence of fire externally, and further assessments were underway,

There were reports that the airplane had an engine shut down in mid air shortly after the plane took off from the Tullamarine runway, The Age reported.

Malaysia Airlines was involved in two air disasters in 2014, with Flight MH370 disappearing and Flight MH17 getting shot down over Ukraine a few months later.