"Bugger it" were the Prime Minister's first thoughts when she was jolted awake by an earthquake on the same day she would decide whether Auckland's Covid outbreak was contained and the city could come out of lockdown.

Ardern felt the 7.1 east coast quake which rattled many New Zealanders awake at 2.27am on Friday. She texted Emergency Management Minister Kiri Allan at 2.29am.

It sparked an eventful 14 hours in New Zealand, with two more major earthquakes in the Pacific, numerous tsunami alerts and evacuations along large parts of the North Island coast - and eventually the Cabinet meeting and decision to ease Covid alert levels from 6am on Sunday.

"Bugger it - pretty much what everyone else thought at that time, but as the minister (Allan) has said - we are the Shaky Isles," Ardern said, when asked how she reacted at 2.27am.

Allan added, laughing: "She sent me a text message to make sure I was going to be doing my job."

The Beehive emergency bunker sprang into action to manage the tsunami threat from the swarm of earthquakes in the Pacific, which passed without injury or damage.

Later in the day, nine floors above the bunker, Cabinet decided to lift Auckland's alert level 3 lockdown and to ease restrictions across the rest of Aotearoa from 6am tomorrow.

It was a busy day for the Prime Minister - but she still couldn't shake questions about comments she's made about Covid cases and their alert level rule-breaking.

Jacinda Ardern's come under fire this week after claiming a KFC employee was told to isolate - before recording a positive test.

But the case says she was never given that guidance - and has asked for an apology.

Ardern's reiterating that she doesn't believe anyone broke the rules on purpose.

"I don't think anyone's gone out to deliberately act against advice or instructions or to create the situation we're in. I don't believe that for a moment." 

Newstalk ZB political reporter Aaron Dahmen joins Francesca Rudkin to discuss the week's political events