Organisers of the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) are expecting continued attacks over the screening of a documentary about exhiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer.

Chinese hackers have targeted the festival's website putting tickets on hold, so that it appears all sessions had been sold out.

They are pushing to have the documentary The Ten Conditions of Love withdrawn from the festival.

MIFF executive director Richard Moore says organisers were shocked by the results of the latest attempt to derail the festival.

"That's sort of like the dream of an executive director, but it just doesn't happen, so we went behind the system and we found out that there's a fairly sophisticated attack on our ticketing system," he said.

"Basically meaning that people, we're identifying them from China, are loading tickets into their cart and basically holding all those tickets so that every session looks like it's sold out, when in fact they're not."

Australia's diplomatic relations with China are being tested over the website attacks.

The Australian Ambassador in Beijing has been summoned to hear China's protest about Rebiya Kadeer's visit to Melbourne next week for the film's premier.

Mr Moore says officials have found a Chinese website which tells people who to disrupt the event's ticket sales.

He says people have also been targeting the phone and fax systems.

"They're attacking the telephone system by ringing us and we answer the phone and it says 'you are on hold' from a particular service in the United States," he said.

"So this has really seriously escalated and it's a direct attempt to sabotage the festival.

"I've got here a whole pile of faxes, I mean, this is just a small sample of them: this one here shows 'LOL, a bunch of pathetic kangaroos' and then behind is reams and reams of Chinese text," he said.

"On the ID of the fax it says China and it gives a telephone number."

Mr Moore says he is in contact with Victoria Police about the attacks.

"They're consulting with various other agencies, so we're keeping them abreast of the situation," he said.

"I'm not sure how it's going to escalate, but I know that Rebiya Kadeer is due to come into town next week, so we're expecting another onslaught next week."

Organisers say tickets are still available at the Box Office or over the phone.