An Australian driver is being questioned by police after his car ploughed into a restaurant in Perth on Wednesday, narrowly missing diners.

The driver had a provisional license.

A nine-year-old girl was among five people injured when the car and a bus collided. The car then ricocheted into the nearby 'Matsuri' Japanese restaurant, Sergeant Paul Coveney told Australian media.

CCTV footage of the restaurant shows the injured girl's father jumping to her rescue - as another man goes to help a diner trapped under the car.

An Australian woman who was a survivor of the Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta in 2009 was among the diners. "It sounded like a bomb. I've been in a bombing so I thought it was a bomb," the woman said.

Other witnesses described the situation as chaotic. Police say it was fortunate no one was killed.