The Human Rights Commission has condemned the detention in hotels of medevac transferees after inspecting conditions at a suburban Melbourne motel where 49 refugees and asylum seekers are being detained.

"The commission ... generally considers that motels are not appropriate places of detention, given their lack of dedicated facilities and restrictions on freedom of movement and access to open space," Human Rights Commissioner Edward Santow said.

The first refugees were brought to Mantra on July 25. At least one of the men has been there since then. Credit:Jason South

On Thursday The Age revealed the men, formerly held in the Manus Island detention centre, are being confined to one floor of the $180-a-night Mantra Bell City motel in Preston, which is off-limits to other guests and patrolled by private security guards.

Mantra is one of several places around the country that have been designated as "alternative places of accommodation", or APODs.