The traditional owners of Australia's Uluru and its surrounding lands on Saturday expressed joy and relief at the permanent closure to climbing of the iconic monolith, formerly known as Ayers Rock.

A sign was erected on Friday evening announcing the ban, and as of Saturday, climbing Uluru is illegal, with trespassers facing fines and possible legal action.

Climbing the World Heritage-listed rock was a popular tourist attraction for decades. However, its indigenous custodians, the Anangu people, who regard Uluru as a sacred space comparable to a church or temple, fought for decades to end the activity.

(Reggie Uluru)

"When I look at the rock, it's clear, it's clean of everything," said Anangu woman Judy Trigger.

"When I think back to the sorrow that we've carried with us for a long time about our lore being broken, our culture disrespected, and now that feeling is gone. Now everything is fresh again," she said.

The Uluru-Kata Tjuta Board of Management unanimously voted in 2017 to end climbing on Uluru after figures showed that fewer than 20 percent of visitors to the park chose to make the ascent.

(Nelly Patterson)

Trigger said that with the climb's closure her community can now place more focus on teaching local culture to future generations and tourists alike.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us because we have to educate the tourists, the visitors that come to our place, but we also have the work of educating our children in their culture and in the ways of tourism so they can have good futures," she said.

Fellow traditional owner Reggie Uluru encouraged future visitors to still come to the national park despite the climb's closure.

"Just come and sight see, walk around the rock, learn about the culture," he said.