Border Force officers planned to make random visa checks and then on-the-spot decisions about whether people were "unlawful non-citizens" during the abandoned Operation Fortitude proposed for Melbourne in August.

Officers were then to either issue bridging visas or detain people, according to documents drafted to explain the fiasco to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton.

Demonstrators stop traffic outside Flinders Street Station, protesting against Operation Fortitude on August 28. Credit:Joe Armao

Documents obtained by Fairfax Media under freedom of information laws reveal that six officers were to be stationed at two taxi ranks in Melbourne over a two-night operation doing status checks "alongside" Victorian police and the Victorian Taxi Directorate. But after the botched operation was cancelled Border Force officials had said they were never going to approach people in the street or racially profile people but rather check the visa status of anyone referred to them by another agency.

A draft Ministerial Submission prepared for Mr Dutton's office after the operation was cancelled because of media attention and snap protests said: "Individuals who were found to be in breach of visa conditions would then be assessed as to their immigration status. If an individual was found to be an unlawful non-citizen appropriate action would have been taken by the on-site ABF officer to either grant a BVE or make a decision to detain."