Neighbours star Matt Wilson has revealed a secret on-set rule that the Australian soap had to implement for the dramatic siege scenes.

This week has seen a gunman hold Holly Hoyland, Aaron Brennan, Susan Kennedy, Paul Robinson, Felix Rodwell, Wendy Rodwell and Quinn Lao hostage at The Waterhole, after Holly’s money issues spiralled out of control.

In a behind-the-scenes video, Matt and other cast members showed fans what it was like filming the siege.

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Among all the chat about how excited everyone was and how fun these scenes were to film, Matt said: “We’ve got all of these rules with the censorship rating. There is a gun on set, it’s a plastic gun, it’s not real, but you can’t be shown pointing it at anyone.

“It has to point to the sky the whole time.”

It turns out that the cast didn’t need a gun pointed at them to create a terrifying atmosphere on set, as they joked that Richard Sutherland, who plays baddie Justin, is a pretty scary-looking fellow.

Sutherland said that he previously appeared on Neighbours 10 years ago and shot Kate Ramsay. Thankfully, everyone made it out of this week’s siege alive.

Elsewhere this week, the soap changed its opening titles for the second time in the past fortnight to reflect recent cast departures.

Neighbours releases new episodes from Mondays to Thursdays for free on Amazon Freevee and Prime Video in the UK and US. In Australia, the show airs from Mondays to Thursdays at 4pm on Channel 10, with a 6.30pm repeat screening on 10 Peach Comedy.