Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has refused to confirm that a suspected asylum seeker boat has been intercepted just off Christmas Island.

A border protection source told the ABC a boat was intercepted by the Navy in the early hours of this morning.

Several Christmas Island residents said they saw a wooden boat get within 200m off Flying Fish Cove at 6am.

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The witness said an Australian navy boat intercepted the suspected asylum seekers soon after.

They said it was intercepted by the Navy a short time later and escorted to Smith Point, where the group was then offloaded onto another Navy ship.

It is not known where the alleged asylum seeker boat was taken.

Speaking from Darwin on  Friday afternoon, Mr Turnbull refused to be drawn on the matter when questioned by reporters.

“As you know, we don’t comment on operational matters,” he said.

“I can’t help you other than to say that we do not comment on operational matters.”

Mr Turnbull would not comment on the matter when asked.

Greens Immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young called on the Federal Government to allow the boat to land and unload its passengers.

“The safest thing to do now is to let these people land on Christmas Island and find out who they are,” she said in a statement.

Minister for International Development and the Pacific Steve Ciobo was unable to confirm whether it was an asylum seeker boat, but stressed the Federal Government’s policies remain unchanged.

“Suffice to say that I think that Australians and, importantly those that are engaged in people smuggling, know the absolute resolute way Australia now deals with this matter,” Mr Ciobo told ABC News 24 on Friday afternoon.

“We will not tolerate those people that seek to come to Australia by boat, they will be processed offshore and they will not find a home here in Australia.”

In a report published in August, Australian Border Force (ABF) said only one asylum seeker vessel had arrived in Australian waters since the start of Operation Sovereign Borders in December 2013.

The 157 people from that vessel spent a month on a Customs ship before being transferred to the Curtin Detention Centre and then Nauru in mid-2014.

If the reports were correct, it will be the first time a boat had made it so close to the island since January, 2013.

– with ABC/AAP