A New Zealand ATM network says consumers have "rushed back to cash" under alert level 2.

According to Next Payments, one month's worth of withdrawals occurred in just three days last week.

More than 30,000 withdrawal transactions were made in the three days after restrictions eased in New Zealand.

The rush for cash caught some venues and operators by surprise, with 23 per cent of Next Payments ATMs running out of cash in the past week.

143 machines ran out of cash bank notes, out of the 624 Next Payments cash machines in New Zealand.

"Consumers have rushed back to cash as soon as venues reopened in New Zealand," says CEO of Next Payments Tim Wildash.

"We have been taken by surprise and almost one quarter of machines ran out of cash last week. We under-estimated the rush for cash but all our ATMs are ready now for the future.

"All machines have been restocked and we are working with partners to ensure that all our ATMs are open and ready for cash withdrawals 24 hours per day, 7 days per week," says Tim.

He says this is a great vote of confidence in cash.

"Cash is safe, flexible and private," says Tim.