Asylum-seeker mother in tears after ruling

The asylum-seeker mother at the centre of a lost High Court challenge against Australia's offshore processing regime is waiting for a late-night doorknock from immigration officials.

The Bangladeshi woman, along with about 260 other asylum seekers presently in Australia, faces deportation to Nauru.

Lawyer Daniel Webb, from the Human Rights Law Centre, said his client had not slept in the days leading up to Wednesday's ruling.

The court, in a 6-1 majority decision, ruled her removal from Australia to detention on Nauru was not unlawful.

It also ruled the federal government's offshore processing deal with Nauru was constitutionally valid.

When Mr Webb told his client the challenge had failed, she broke down in tears.

"It was the hardest phone call I have made in my life," he told reporters outside the High Court in Canberra.

"She is now terrified that one night soon, her and her child will be woken up and bundled onto a plane and left to languish in limbo on Nauru."

Mr Webb said the court's decision left scores of other asylum-seekers' families vulnerable to being sent back to Nauru.

Parents were worried their children would be taken out of Australian schools with only 72 hours notice.

Mr Webb appealed for government intervention, saying a stroke of the immigration minister's pen was all it would take to let the families stay.

Protesters outside the High Court building held up photographs of the babies now at risk of being sent back.

"We've exhausted the High Court and the political environment so now I think we need to starting thinking about more radical action," said protester John Passant.