Timelapse footage shows chilled-out locals having drinks as the restive Mayon Volcano erupted gently in the background.

Mariel Calubiran and her friends decided to go 'lava gazing' and enjoyed cool cans of beer and packets of crisps while viewing the spectacular molten streams pouring out of the volcano in Albay province, the Philippines on June 24.

In a bulletin on Friday, June 30, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said Mayon spewed steam-laden plumes reaching 2,500 metres tall. The agency also recorded 284 rockfall events as a 'very slow effusion of lava' flowed from the crater.

Mayon, the country's most active volcano has been rumbling with activity in recent weeks, sparking the evacuation of more than 18,000 people in Albay province.

State volcanologists have hoisted Alert Level 3 indicating a 'high level of unrest' over Mayon Volcano. They said the unrest could last for months, and the high-risk zone around the volcano may be expanded should the eruption intensify.

Speaking to local media, Teresito Bacolcol, director of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS), said: 'Based on our experience, this activity may persist for a few months. If the eruption were violent, this would probably take a few days to weeks, but when it is slow like this, it would probably take several months.'

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said around 18,751 people were staying in evacuation centres as of June 29.

Mayon Volcano - a popular tourist attraction renowned for its 'perfect' conical shape - is the most active volcano in the Philippines. It last erupted in 2018, displacing around 40,000 residents.

The Philippines is an archipelago of more than 7,000 islands inside the Pacific 'Ring of Fire' where the majority of Earth's volcano eruptions and earthquakes happen.