Officials at the Australian High Commission in Kenya's capital Nairobi are working to determine whether any Australians have been hurt in a university massacre.
At least 147 people have been killed and 79 injured by Somalia's Al-Shabab Islamist group gunmen in a day-long siege at the Garissa University College, in eastern Kenya.
Kenyan authorities say the four gunmen have been killed.
The Australian High Commission in Nairobi is understood to be liaising with local authorities to determine whether any Australians have been killed or injured, although no Australians are registered as being in Garissa.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said its recently upgraded travel advice for Kenya remains as is.
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In a joint statement, the opposition's leader Bill Shorten and deputy leader Tanya Plibersek said the attack was especially abhorrent because it targeted a university.
"Everyone deserves an education free from fear and violence," they said on Friday.
"It is a fundamental human right."
Masked gunmen began their attack before dawn, blasting open the gates of the university, which is near the lawless border with war-torn Somalia, with grenades before attacking students as they slept.
Four Al-Shabab gunmen carried out the Westgate shopping mall massacre in Nairobi in September 2013, slaughtering at least 67 people in a four-day bloodbath.
Kenya has been hit by a wave of grenade and gun attacks, often blamed on sympathisers of the Al-Shabab and sometimes aimed at police targets, since the army crossed into southern Somalia in 2011 to attack Islamist bases.
Comment has been sought from the federal government.
