Australia will continue providing military support to help maintain security in East Timor, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Monday, amid renewed concerns about stability in the fledgling nation.

Downer was speaking after holding three-country talks with East Timor's leaders and Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda.

"We obviously continue to be concerned about the security situation, the outbreak of violence in Dili, though the advice I've had is the situation is somewhat better then it has been," Downer told reporters in the capital, Dili.

The United Nations agreed last week on a new mission to East Timor, comprising some 1,600 police, despite a dispute over whether Australian-led troops already there should remain independent or be integrated into the UN force.

Downer said Australia backed the UN deployment, but that it needed to be backed up by a stronger military force. "I explained the Australian government's position, which is that we give consent that there should be military backup for the police," Downer said.

He said that "substantially" bigger numbers would be required to have a blue-helmet UN peacekeeping force operating alone, but said the issue would be discussed in New York in October. "Australia always stands by East Timor and endeavours to help it no matter what circumstances", Downer added.

Highlighting the fragile security situation in the former Portuguese colony, more than 50 prisoners escaped from Becora jail near Dili last week, among them rebel leader Major Alfredo Reinado.

Reinado was one of the figureheads of a revolt that plunged East Timor into chaos in May, prompting Australia to lead an international peacekeeping force to restore order.

Indonesian troops have been put on alert to prevent a possible border crossing by Reinado and the other inmates who escaped, Jakarta's military said on Monday.

East Timor Prime Minister Jose Ramos Horta thanked Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Portugal for providing security help and said he was confident about the situation. "As of yesterday, it is far more stable and peaceful than two months ago," he told reporters.

The United Nations refugee agency said on Friday it was concerned about an escalation in violence in Dili in recent days.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesman Ron Redmond said there were signs of increasing polarisation of communities in and around Dili, where some displaced persons living in camps feared night-time attacks.

There have been sporadic flare-ups in violence involving gangs burning houses, or fighting one another with stones and homemade weapons since May.