A Dunedin man has been remanded in custody after an armed offenders callout involving a crossbow.

Police were called to a domestic incident in a northeastern suburb around 7.45pm on Friday night and were challenged by a man with a loaded crossbow, Senior Sergeant Chris McLellan said.

The armed offenders squad, a police negotiation team and the dog squad were called out and a 25-year-old man was arrested after being holed up in a house for an hour.

A woman who ran from the house when police arrived was also arrested after a small disturbance but no one was injured in the incident, Sen Sgt McLellan said.

The man was granted interim name suppression in Dunedin District Court on Saturday morning and was remanded without plea, Fairfax Media reported.

He was charged with assaulting a police officer using a crossbow, possessing a crossbow in a manner which suggested it might be used to inflict injury and intentional damage.