Asylum seekers at the Manus Island Detention Centre are staging a protest but authorities have denied claims by a refugee advocacy group that they are on a hunger strike.

Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said early on Wednesday that hundreds of asylum seekers at the centre on the Papua New Guinea island were on hunger strike and refusing to return to their rooms.

The government is seeking to deport failed asylum seekers in a bid to relieve the Manus Island detention centre.

At least one detainee in Mike compound had stitched his lips together in protest, Mr Rintoul said in a statement.