Gold Coast hostage drama drags on

Police negotiators are still trying to persuade a man to give up his teenage son as a hostage drama on the Gold Coast drags on.

The 16-year-old boy called police himself about 7am to say he was in danger.

The boy and his father, 42, are holed up in a unit complex at Currumbin.

Police were preparing for the possibility of an armed confrontation, with heavily-armed Special Emergency Response Team officers at the scene.

They are yet to enter the building where the man is refusing to speak to police.

"He hasn't actively threatened anybody with a knife but every household would have a knife," a police spokeswoman told AAP.

"They're just taking that precaution."

An emergency situation has been declared on the Gold Coast Highway, which means bystanders south of Flat Rock Creek are being kept away from the building.

Pictures from the scene show a heavy police presence.