One asylum seeker boat intercepted - govt

Just one asylum seeker boat arrived in Australian waters in the past week.

Operation Sovereign Borders Acting Commander, Air Marshal Mark Binskin, said the boat was intercepted late on Thursday off the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

The number of people on board was not released because the passengers were still to be processed at Christmas Island, Air Marshal Binskin told reporters in Sydney on Friday.

"But I do want to emphasise that the people who came to Australia on board this boat by now already understand that they will not be settled in Australia," he said.

For the October 4-11 reporting period, a total of 111 people were transferred to offshore processing centres on Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.

Since Operation Sovereign Borders began three weeks ago, a total of 215 arrivals have been transferred.

Up to 9am (AEDT) on Friday, Operation Sovereign Borders had overseen the transfer of 402 people to offshore processing centres, including 115 members of "family groups" to Nauru, Air Marshal Binskin said.

A further 287 people went to Manus Island.

The transfers mean there are 800 detainees at Nauru and 1059 at Manus Island, while there are 2176 people across the Christmas Island facilities.

There is sufficient offshore processing capacity to meet future transfer requirements, the government says.

Following a recent visit to Nauru, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said expansion of processing facilities was "well underway".

"It's not just about having some tents on an island," he said, adding the government was making a "very significant" difference to how the centres were operating.

Among the facilities is a hospital with maternity wing and two delivery beds, six post-natal beds and a special-care baby unit, all manned by nine midwives and a pediatrician.

"There are no exceptions to offshore processing," Mr Morrison said when asked about the status of pregnant detainees.