Extremist terrorists opened fired on two Mosques in Christchurch, killing at least 40 people, including children.

Forty-nine people have been killed and 48 more hurt after mass shootings at two Christchurch mosques in the worst terror attack on New Zealand soil.

Anxious family and friends are pacing outside Christchurch Hospital, waiting for news of injured loved ones.

Wailing and crying can be heard at intervals, as people learn their friends will not be coming home.

"We just got some very bad news," said Mahdi Zougub, as his friends hugged nearby.

"We think our friend... we think he's gone. There's a lot of emotion."

Zougub, 22, said he was on his way to the Deans Ave mosque when a friend called and told him about the shooting. He wasn't allowed inside.

"I could see dead bodies. Now we are just waiting to hear the story with our missing ones. We just want to go in and find them."

Some of the shooting victims have been released and allowed to go home.

One, with a wound on his hand and another on his leg, said his phone and wallet were in the mosque and he had no way to call a taxi.