Four prisoners who absconded from Darwin’s jail have been recaptured trying to sneak back into the prison a few hours later, in what authorities have described as an “excursion”.

The minimum security prisoners, Christopher Keene, Ian Mamarika, Jayras Manggurra and Xavier Nundhirriballa, were seen climbing a fence near low security “pre-release” accommodation units shortly after the evening roll call at 7pm at the Holtze facility, near Darwin, on Saturday.

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The prisoners were found to be absent at a roll call after they were “seen close to the boundary fence that surrounds the cottage complex”.

An alert was issued on social media on Saturday night which assured the public the prisoners were not regarded as a threat.

The prisoners were seen trying to re-enter the facility shortly after 1am Sunday.

In a statement, a spokesman for NT Correctional Services said it was suspected “the prisoners believed they could leave and return to the facility unobserved and that their excursion outside the prison precinct would go undetected”.

NT Correctional Services Commissioner Mark Payne said the men have been taken out of their pre-release unit and returned to the main prison.