Up to 150,000 people have been urged to evacuate areas within a 10 kilometre radius of Bali's Mount Agung as authorities fear its lava could reach 22 surrounding communities.
A danger zone was expanded Monday morning amid issuing of the volcano's highest alert, with heavy rain sending ash and magma towards nearby villages.
As authorities attempt to urge people to evacuate, only 40,000 have chosen to leave with many 'feeling safe' or staying to protect livestock, Bloomberg reports.
Almost 60,000 travelers were left stranded after 445 flights were cancelled, most left waiting 24 hours to see if Denpasar Airport will reopen.
Authorities imposed a 10km exclusion zone around the volcano which has been hurling ash thousands of metres into the atmosphere since the weekend.
Maureen Steele and Jackie Calabretta were scheduled to fly on a Garuda Indonesia flight from Sydney via Bali to Jakarta on Monday for an orangutan tour.
They were up at 4am to travel from Gosford and Wollongong to make the 10am flight which cost $700 return.
'We were on the plane, all strapped in ready for departure, when the cabin crew announced they needed to wait 10 minutes to get clearance,' Ms Steele said at Sydney Airport.
They told us they didn't get clearance so we all had to get off again.'
As they passed back through customs, Ms Calabretta contacted Malaysia Airlines and booked a new flight costing $600 one-way to Jakarta via Kuala Lumpur.
'We have to go - we've paid hundreds of dollars on the vaccinations and there have been lots of preparations,' Ms Steele said as they settled in for a 10-hour wait.
A group of eight surfers are hoping they'll be able to fly to Bali on Tuesday.
James Hall, 18, said the Sydney friends had been planning their Sumatra surf trip for more than a year.
'It's frustrating, we've been told we might be able to fly tomorrow, so we just have to wait it out,' Mr Hall told AAP at Sydney's international terminal.
'There's not much we can do - it's a volcano.'
The latest data from Agoda shows Bali is the number one destination for Australians travelling in December.
University of Adelaide geologist Mark Tingay says the eruptions from Mount Agung have sent plumes of ash 3000 metres into the air.
'The volcanic eruption has moved on to the next, more severe, magmatic eruption phase, where highly viscous lava can trap gasses under pressure, potentially leading to an explosion,' he said in a statement.
Jetstar, Virgin, Qantas and Garuda advised passengers on Monday morning that all flights were cancelled.
The decision was made on safety grounds and reversed earlier expectations that flights would go ahead.
'While these disruptions are frustrating, we will always put safety before schedule,' Jetstar said in a statement.
Jetstar will next update passengers about 7pm after further advice from the Bureau of Meteorology's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre.
Virgin says it's closely monitoring the situation 'and will provide further updates as they become available'.
Dozens of flights were also cancelled on Sunday because of the volcanic ash.
Indonesia's Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation raised its aviation colour code from orange to red indicating a further eruption with significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere was imminent.
Mount Agung in eastern Bali last erupted in 1963 killing more than 1000 people and razing several villages.
Authorities raised the volcano alert to the highest level on Monday and ordered people within 10km of the mountain to evacuate amid fears of a major eruption.
Magma has now reached the surface of the volcano, which threatens to produce a 'strong, explosive eruption,' authorities warned.
'The activity of Mount Agung has entered the magmatic eruption phase,' an Indonesian official said on Sunday.
'It is still spewing ash at the moment but we need to monitor and be cautious over the possibility of a strong, explosive eruption.'
Mt Agung erupted on Saturday evening and three times on Sunday, throwing holiday plans into disarray.
Indonesia's Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation raised its aviation colour code from orange to red, indicating a further eruption with significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere was imminent.
Mt Agung sits more than 3000 metres high over eastern Bali. It last erupted in 1963, killing more than 1,000 people and razing several villages.
Australia's Bureau of Meteorology's Volanic Ash Advisory Centre in Darwin issued maps showing an ash cloud heading southeast over the neighbouring island of Lombok away from Bali's capital Denpasar, where the international airport is located.
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