An Indian doctor arrested in connection with the UK's foiled car bomb plot could be held without charge for up to seven days.
The Gold Coast Hospital registrar is being questioned in custody in Brisbane after his arrest at the city's international airport on Monday.
But a leading terror expert has questioned whether the seven-day limit offers sufficient time for security agencies to probe suspects in terrorism-related matters.
Clive Williams of the Australian National University said the ASIO Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Act of 2003 provided for suspects in terrorist incidents to be detained for a week, provided a magistrate approved a warrant and there were reasonable grounds for suspicion.
"This is simply to allow the gathering of information which might relate to a terrorist offence ... it doesn't matter where the offence occurred," he told AAP.
"If you had forensic evidence that you needed to exploit, then it may be insufficient.
"If you had somebody's laptop and it contained 60,000 pages of Arabic, then obviously you're going to need some time to go through all that."
In Britain, suspects in terrorism matters can be held for up to 30 days.
There were moves under former prime minister Tony Blair to extend this to 90 days, despite strong opposition from some quarters.
Queensland Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson gave away little as to how long the man was likely to be detained.
"My understanding is his detention is under federal government legislation and that the federal officers can apply to a judicial officer, an officer of the court – that's a magistrate I imagine – for extensions of the detention time frame," he said.
"I know it's being considered but again, it's a federal police matter and I don't think it's appropriate for me to comment."
Prime Minister John Howard refused to say whether the AFP would seek to use the counter-terrorism laws to detain the man or whether British authorities have asked for his extradition.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock's office similarly offered few answers and the AFP's media unit did not return calls.
"The time for which a person can be held depends on the specific charges under consideration," a spokeswoman for Mr Ruddock said.
"As the matter is an ongoing investigation it would be inappropriate to comment further."
Tough counter-terror laws passed in 2004 provide for a presumption against bail in terrorism cases and ensure the non-parole period for convicted terrorists is at least three-quarters of their sentence.
In the lead-up to the APEC world leaders summit in Sydney in September, security authorities won't be taking any chances.
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