Australian journalist Peter Greste is among three reporters working for Al Jazeera in Cairo who have been arrested by Egyptian authorities.

Egyptian secret police arrested the award-winning Australian journalist along with the head of the Qatar-based news network's Cairo bureau, Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, on suspicion of illegally broadcasting news harming "domestic security", the interior ministry said.

Officers from the National Security Service raided their makeshift bureau at a Cairo hotel on Sunday, arresting the two and confiscating their equipment, the ministry said in a statement.

Al Jazeera confirmed the arrests in a statement and said police also arrested producer Baher Mohamed and cameraman Mohamed Fawzi on Sunday evening.

Egyptian officials did not identify the journalists, only mentioning that one was a "Muslim Brotherhood member" and the other an Australian.

Their colleagues at Al Jazeera English identified them.

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop says the Australian Government is doing all it can to help Greste.

"Officials in Cairo have been contacted and they are providing direct consular assistance to him," she said.

"I don't believe it would assist him if I went into anymore details at this stage but we are working directly with him and providing consular support."

The raid came after authorities listed the Muslim Brotherhood movement of deposed president Mohamed Morsi as a "terrorist organisation", making membership in the Islamist group, or even possession of its literature, a crime.

The journalists "broadcast live news harming domestic security," the interior ministry said, adding they were also found in possession of Muslim Brotherhood "publications".

Greste, a former BBC journalist, won the prestigious Peabody award in 2011 for a documentary on Somalia.

Fahmy, who formerly worked with CNN, is a well-known journalist in Cairo with no known links to the Brotherhood.

Egypt's military-installed government cracked down on Al Jazeera's affiliates following the overthrow of Mr Morsi in July, accusing the broadcaster of pro-Brotherhood coverage.

Several Al Jazeera reporters remain in detention, including Abdullah Elshamy, a journalist for the Arab language station arrested on August 14 when police dispersed an Islamist protest camp in Cairo, killing hundreds in clashes.

The government declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation last week after a suicide car bombing of a police headquarters killed 15 people.

It blamed the attack on the Islamists, although an Al Qaeda-inspired group claimed responsibility for the bombing and the Brotherhood condemned it.

ABC/AFP