Updated | Germany v Holland called off due to bomb threat

Initial reports of an ambulance filled with explosives outside a stadium in Hannover have been denied with the German regional minister saying that no explosives were found and no arrests were made.

The news of suspected bomb threat appeared in local news, immediately invoking fears of another terror attack like last week's massacre in Paris.

They reported that authorities also cleared a second stadium, with a performance planned by German band, but did not say if there was a serious threat there.

The Germany-Netherlands friendly game hadn't even started when authorities sealed off the HDI-Arena due to a "suspicious object," police said.

Police deemed it a false alarm and eventually let cheering fans into the stadium, which was crawling with machine gun-toting cops.

But police then ushered everyone outside, and later called off the game.

"There were serious plans to bring something to explode," police chief Volker Kluwe told reporters.

The German newspaper Kreiszeitung reported officials found an ambulance stuffed with explosives outside the stadium.

Reporters on the scene said police were holding a man at gunpoint about half a mile from the arena, though it was not immediately clear why.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was not at the match.

Belgium's friendly against Spain, which was also due to be played on Tuesday, was cancelled on Monday night due to an increased terrorism threat.

The German football federation (DFB) announced in a short Twitter statement: "The team are in a safe place. The match will not go ahead."

Its spokesman Jens Grittner wrote on Twitter: "We were on our way into the stadium and were diverted by the police to a safe place. We cannot say more at this time. Please understand."