One of Australia's biggest tobacco companies has been accused of lying after it claimed plain packaging of cigarettes has had "no impact" in Australia except to increase illegal cigarette smuggling.

Official Customs figures obtained by Fairfax Media indicate plain packaging has had almost no effect on tobacco smuggling, in direct opposition to the arguments the tobacco industry is using in its campaign to stop the health measure being adopted internationally.

"These companies have been running huge media and lobbying programs ... Now we know the truth": Health Professor Mike Daube.

Executives of British American Tobacco boasted last week boasted to investors that plain packaging had increased illegal tobacco smuggling by about a third but had no impact on consumption trends. It said plain packaging was easier to counterfeit, causing the smuggling boom.

In fact, despite the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service increasing its capture of illegal tobacco, only one haul of "plain packaged" illegal cigarettes has been found.