UPDATED 11.17PM Wellington's mayor says 99 percent of the city's buildings are functional following Monday's massive quake.

Initial council reports indicated 60 buildings had sustained structural damage.

LISTEN: Wellington mayor Justin Lester speaks with Newstalk ZB's Tim Fookes

Authorities still won't give an exact number on how many buildings are deemed structurally unsafe, but now say that number is under 10.

Mayor Justin Lester said it's not too early to announce the CBD is open for business because there's no risk to public safety.

"We've taken an exceptionally cautious approach to this, but at the same time safeguarding Wellingtonians and safeguarding people that need to get back into their buildings, need to get back to their businesses."

Earlier, Lester said he expects more damage to be reported.

"Over the course of the comings days, we expect there to be other issues with other buildings, and that's as the structure engineers are able to go independently into every building, through their building owners and tell us the extent of any damage."

Wellington City Council general manager for building control Mike Scott said overall, Wellington's buildings haven't come off too badly.

LISTEN ABOVE: Wellington City Council general manager for building control Mike Scott speaks with Mike Hosking

"Wellington has had at best superficial damage across the whole portfolio. It's very little. We have done extremely well. There are isolated pockets where there had been issues."

However, Scott told Mike Hosking damage checks are still being carried out.

"Building owners are acting very responsibly, they're getting their engineers in, they're checking the buildings for stability and structural integrity and moving about their business."

He said the council's priority is dealing with the building on Molesworth Street that's at risk of collapse.