Police are focusing their attention on a house with a smashed car outside as a man lies critically ill in hospital

Neighbours say gun shots rang out through the night on Naylors Drive in Mangere.

But police called at 3.50 this morning say they've "spoken to a number of residents in the area, including the immediate area, and there is no suggestion that shots were fired".

A 1997 Mitsubishi Galant parked in the driveway of the property where the man's assault is believed to have occurred had a smashed front window, along with multiple open bourbon cola cans on its bonnet.

A man who lives in one of the neighbouring streets says there are fights around the streets there all the time.

Police say the car is a small part of a much larger scene examination, and their focus is on the victim, the witnesses, and people who had left scene.