Police, including a dog squad from Dunedin, converged on a Percy St address about 3pm after it was established a man having warrants out for his arrest related to firearms offences was inside the property.
An Armed Offenders Squad, also from Dunedin, was called in as a precaution.
The man was arrested about 10.35pm and is in police custody.
While charges were yet to be laid in relation to Saturday's incident, a police spokeswoman told the Otago Daily Times that would likely happen in the coming days.
The man is due to appear in the Timaru District Court today.
Earlier, armed offenders squad personnel were present as police cordoned off a section of the usually quiet suburban street, between Argyle and Charles Sts, in the North Otago town.
Several armed police, a dog squad and at least eight marked police cars were at the scene for more than seven hours.
During the incident, an armed officer guarding the Argyle St intersection was controlling traffic in the area and stopped each vehicle as it passed, asking drivers for their destination.
A reporter at the scene was asked by the officer to ``move on quickly'' due to safety concerns.
A Percy St resident, who did not want to be named, said they did not realise there was any drama unfolding until they noticed people congregating in the area.
The person said they had been told the incident might have been related to a vehicle accident in Weston early this morning, when a car struck a power pole outside Ludemann Motors in Main St about 1.45am.
Police and members of the Weston Volunteer Fire Brigade attended the scene, but the car's two occupants had left before they arrived, emergency services said.
Power lines had fallen but were not touching the road.
Firefighters applied foam to fuel left on the street and helped with traffic control.
A police spokeswoman said police spoke to one person after the crash.
He was not charged and police were continuing their inquiries, she said.
