The Indonesian Corrections office has confirmed a member of the Bali Nine has died in hospital in Jakarta.

Vietnamese-Australian citizen Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen was serving a life sentence for his role in a plot to smuggle more than 8 kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005.

Nguyen, 34, never courted the spotlight, since being arrested in Bali in 2005.

Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen was serving a life sentence in East Java. ( AAP: Mick Tsikas )

He had been serving out his life sentence at Malang prison in East Java, but according to a spokesman for Indonesian Corrections died from kidney cancer in a Jakarta hospital, where he had spent the last few weeks of his life.

He died on the morning of May 9, at 7:10am Jakarta time.

His body was then handed over to his stepmother by authorities.

He is the third member of the group of nine to have died. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukamarin were executed by firing squad in 2015.

The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told the ABC it was, "providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian man who died of a terminal illness in Indonesia. For privacy reasons we will not provide further comment".

He appealed the life sentence — when he did that the judges increased his sentence to a death penalty.

Another appeal, accompanied by a full confession and apology resulted in the original sentence of life behind bars being imposed.

In his final appeal to judges in 2006, he told the court: "I love Indonesia, and I would never intentionally damage or hurt her reputation."