Canberra storm has been declared a catastrophe with thousands of claims made

It has spurred the Insurance Council of Australia to declare the weather event a "catastrophe".

In a catastrophe declaration claims that relate to the national disaster are expedited by insurers. The insurance council will also activate a disaster hotline.

A council spokesman said 29,000 claims had been made in relation to Monday's storm from the ACT, NSW and Victoria. He said the ACT made up 56 per cent of those claims.

The total number of claims is estimated at $320 million. About two-thirds of those claims related to motor vehicles.

Insurance Council of Australia head of risk and operations Karl Sullivan said customers in affected areas were already being advised about assessment and repairs.

The damage bill from the storm is expected to mount into the tens of millions of dollars.

Canberra's heritage-listed Shine Dome sustained serious damage. The copper roof tiles of the building were severely dented and several skylights were smashed.

The Shine Dome houses nationally significant scientific archives and the smashed skylights exposed these to rain and hail.

But Australian Academy of Science chief executive Anna-Maria Arabia said there was no damage to the archives.

The archives include collections from Australia's most famous scientists, including Frank Fenner who oversaw the eradication of smallpox.

The Australian National Botanic Gardens were also battered in the hailstorm. It will be closed until further notice while assessment work is carried out.

"Staff are in the process of inspecting buildings, gardens and living collections in order to assess the damage and determine the required repairs," a Parks Australia spokeswoman said.

"Initial assessments have indicated that there is some damage to buildings and a large amount of debris, particularly fallen branches and leaves, which will need to be cleared before the full extent of the damage is determined."

The Australian National University will be closed on Tuesday with only essential staff working on campus.

"We know there is damage to a large number of buildings," an ANU statement said, "Water and debris may affect accessibly to some parts of campus."

Old Parliament House suffered damage to part of its roof, skylights and windows and will also be closed on Tuesday.

Belconnen's police station, the Winchester Police Centre, suffered considerable damage with personnel from the intelligence unit forced to work elsewhere.

"The intelligence, and media and public engagement teams have enacted their business continuity plans to allow work to continue from an alternate location," an ACT Policing spokesman said.

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In addition to damage to homes and offices, cars have had windscreens and rear windows smashed and bonnets, roofs and boots pummeled and dented.

Overnight, emergency service personnel have worked to restore power, remove damaged trees and secure homes.

Crews from the ACT State Emergency Service, ACT Rural Fire Service, ACT Forestry and Trees and Transport Canberra and City Services worked on Monday night and will continue to work on Tuesday.

The ACT Emergency Services Agency said it had fielded 1911 calls for help since the storm which hit about midday Monday. The agency said this was a record number of calls for a storm event.

The previous record was set more than three years ago, when the ACT SES received 998 calls after a windstorm on January 13, 2017.

The 2017 windstorm brought gusts of up to 69km/h in Tuggeranong and up to 54km/h. Wind gusts of up to 116km/h were recorded on Monday at Canberra airport.

On Tuesday morning the ACT ESA's incident map still showed swathes of damage to power lines, concentrated in west Belconnen and the inner south.

Electricity supplier Evoenergy had one unplanned outage on Tuesday morning that affected only 21 customers.

At the peak of the storm, power to 3150 homes and businesses had been cut.