A man armed with a number of guns and possibly a pipe bomb has barricaded himself inside a residential unit in Sydney, Australian reports say.

The Daily Telegraph says tactical police have swarmed the area around Maxwells Ave, Ashcroft, in the south-west of the city.

The newspaper says officers were confronted by the heavily armed man screaming on the footpath, before he retreated inside the residential complex.

Police negotiaters have been using a loudspeaker to try to convince him to surrender.