A woman is critical and undergoing surgery after a horror stabbing incident at the Australian National University in Canberra on Monday afternoon.

Two women, aged 20, suffered stab wounds and were rushed to hospital after the knifing on campus around 2.45pm. Another man in his 30s was treated at the scene.

ACT Police confirmed a 24-year-old man, who is not believed to be a student, was taken into custody and has not been charged.

The suspect has been identified in the media as former ANU student Alex Ophel.

In 2017, Ophel was charged with trying to kill his tutor and classmates from his statistics class at the same university.

At the time Ophel was accused of attempting to murder five people with a baseball bat inside a classroom.

One of the victim’s arms were broken, the tutor was knocked out and several others were injured.

Ophel was found not guilty during a trial in 2019 due to mental impairment.

Alex Ophel is in police custody but has not been charged. Photo: Facebook

ANU Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt reassured the university community of safety on campus and thanked the emergency response teams.

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the swift and efficient response from ACT Policing, ACT Ambulance Service and our own ANU Security team,” he said in a statement issued to staff and students.

The university posted on social media site X, formerly Twitter, that the situation was under control late Monday.

Students have been encouraged to stay away from Fellows Oval and Chifley Meadow as they are active scenes of investigation.

Support services are also available to students and staff.

Police are not searching for any other people of interest, although anyone who witnessed the incident and has not yet talked to police is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.