Three men rescued from Uluru

The three Australian men, all aged 23, first got into trouble about midday on Monday, when they veered off the designated pathway into a restricted zone and became stuck in a crevice.

By about 9.30pm, volunteers from the Northern Territory Emergency Service's specialist vertical rescue team had reached the men via helicopter and were preparing to abseil them to safety, after many hours working to secure abseiling anchors.

Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services announced the men had "safely landed" about 3.30am on Tuesday, on Twitter.

A spokeswoman said a medical team was waiting for the men at the bottom of Uluru.

"They were all quite hungry but they were fine, they had sufficient water with them and weren't dehydrated," she said.

She said the "avoidable" incident would be costly, with a helicopter and expensive equipment used in the rescue mission.

"It is huge effort for the NTES volunteers. It's wear and tear on equipment and it does cost a lot of money," she said.

The spokeswoman said while she could not comment on whether the men would face any charges, it was a reminder for bushwalkers not to stray from the tracks.

"It's really important that people stay within the designated areas when they're doing bushwalks so that they don't come into harm's way," she said.

She did not know where the men were from.

While climbing Uluru is not prohibited, the traditional owners of the rock, the Anangu, ask that people "respect our law and culture" by not venturing onto the scared site.

Tourists who visit Uluru are also warned that the climb can be dangerous. More than 35 people have died scaling the sandstone giant, including people who have had heart attacks on the climb.

And on Monday night, many on social media were condemning the men's decision to climb the rock.

Melbourne man David Rowe is holidaying at Uluru with his family and could see the stranded men stuck about 100 metres from the base of the rock using a camera lens.

"They actually got three-quarters or even more down the face of the rock in the wrong spot," Mr Rowe said.

"They got to the point where it's too steep to do the final bit, but too hard to go up again."

The technical officer with Telstra said he chose not to climb Uluru.

"My son is in a wheelchair, which would have made it challenging, but we wouldn't have wanted to anyway because there are signs there saying the local indigenous people would prefer you not," he said.

"I just think we're on their turf so if they don't want me to I'm quite happy not to do it."

In June last year a Taiwanese man was trapped on Uluru for more than 24 hours after falling 20 metres into a crevice, sustaining multiple limb fractures and head injuries.