New Zealanders trapped in New Caledonia have been dealt another blow - they won't be able to escape the unrest and get home until at least Tuesday next week.
Currently, 208 New Zealanders are registered as being there.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters says officials are trying to work on an extraction plan, but can't while the airport remains locked down by French authorities.
Fires still burn on the streets of New Caledonia's capital Noumea after another night of rioting.
French security forces have rallied in response and 2700 police and soldiers will be on the ground by tonight.
Wellington resident Emma Roylands has been in Noumea since March teaching English to young students. She's currently hunkering down at New Caledonia University.
"The road from where I am in Nouville to the beginning of the centre of town I would describe as absolute carnage," she told Newshub.
"Burnt-out cars in the middle of the road, ashes and break-ins and destroyed buildings which is utterly heartbreaking. It felt like being in a movie."
Roylands said it's been generally quiet during the day, but rioting flares when it gets dark.
"The bangs and the shots that ring out overnight is pretty spooky."
She described central Noumea as "practically a war zone", and security guards at the university where she is are working hard to make students feel safe.
But she and others are still keeping watch at night to ensure the violence doesn't spread into the university campus.
"We have set up a series of shifts. We do stay up all night on our balconies and survey the campus."
The unrest was triggered by moves in Paris to change the voting rules. The changes would allow French residents who have lived in New Caledonia for 10 years to vote in local elections, a move the indigenous population fears will leave them further marginalised.
Dominique Fochi from the Pro-Independence Caledonia Union Party says local Kanak people feel Paris has failed to listen to them.
"We feel like we were shouting in a void, now things are exploding," he said.
New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters says should violence escalate, the New Zealand Defence Force could be called on.
"If it comes to a matter of necessity, every option will be looked at," he told Newshub.
Getting in and out of Noumea currently isn't possible after France shut the airport while trying to restore order.
Peters wants Kiwis out as soon as possible.
"I think other countries will be saying the same thing to Paris and they would have been aware of that from the moment it first happened and when they locked the airport down they knew there would be ramifications such as the one that we are talking about right now."
Newshub asked the New Zealand Defence Force to clarify if staff had been put on standby to assist evacuating people from Noumea.
A spokesperson told Newshub "there have been discussions with officials about the situation in New Caledonia".
"Questions about support to New Zealanders wanting to return home from New Caledonia are best directed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
Some Kiwis had planned to fly out tomorrow with Air New Zealand.
But the head of flight operations for Air New Zealand, Hugh Pearce, says that won't be happening.
"We've been advised that the airport won't open until at least until 9am on Tuesday morning New Zealand time."
Pearse said Tuesday is not a certainty given how fluid and fragile the situation is.
There are also roadblocks and rioting on the only road to the airport.
"The airfield could be open for operations but it might be impossible for people to travel safely from their hotels or their homes in fact to get to the airport."
Three young Kanak have died in the riots, and a 22-year-old police official died after being shot in the head as he was talking to protesters.
Another officer died in an accidental shooting while preparing to deploy, according to the French interior ministry.
