Saudi women are officially allowed to get behind the wheel from Sunday (June 24), marking a historic day after a decades-old driving ban was lifted, media reports said.

A number of Saudi women got in the driver's seat for the first time in their country and steered through busy city streets in Riyadh just minutes after the world's last remaining ban on women driving was lifted, reported NBC.

"I'm speechless. I'm so excited it's actually happening," Hessah al-Ajaji, who drove her family's Lexus after midnight, was quoted as saying in the report.

“We achieved history today. I have no words to describe how I feel,” said 54-year-old Aljohara al-Wabli, who at 12:01 am local time drove her son’s Toyota FJ Cruiser in Buraidah, Saudi Arabia, according to a WSJ report.

The change was announced last September and Saudi Arabia issued the first licences to women earlier this month, reported BBC.

It was the only country left in the world where women could not drive and families had to hire private chauffeurs for female relatives, it added.