Anti-abortion activist Troy Newman has lost his High Court bid to stay in Australia and could be deported as early as this weekend.

Mr Newman flew into Melbourne from the United States on Thursday, despite having his visa revoked by the Immigration Department.

His lawyers tried unsuccessfully to appeal that decision in the High Court in Melbourne on Friday afternoon.

Justice Geoffrey Nettle ruled the department was justified in revoking Mr Newman's visa over fears the visit would pose a risk to the community.

Justice Nettle ruled Mr Newman may have had a case to challenge the refusal, but said he should not have boarded a plane to Australia knowing his visa had been cancelled.

"Acting as he did means he does not come to this court with clean hands," he said.

Mr Newman had no right to treat the law as "nought", Justice Nettle ruled.

Mr Newman is the head of anti-abortion organisation Operation Rescue and was due to speak in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart and Cairns over the next fortnight at events run by the group Right To Life Australia.

He is the co-author of the book Their Blood Cries Out, which was published in 2000.

In the book he questions why doctors who perform abortions are not executed and asks why women or men who request the procedure are not charged with murder.

Government seeks to expedite Mr Newman's deportation

In a statement, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said he had instructed the department to "expedite" Mr Newman's removal from Australia.

"Any person who enters Australia without a valid visa and does not have a lawful basis to remain in Australia is expected to depart," he said.

"His detention and removal is entirely related to his decision to openly flout Australian law and travel to Australia without a valid visa."

Mr Dutton said he had also asked the department to look at how Mr Newman was able to board a flight to Australia despite him being flagged on the Movement Alert List system.

"Any airline involved faces a fine for carriage of a person who does not hold a valid visa," he said in the statement.

In a mid-flight Facebook post on his way to Australia earlier this week, Mr Newman urged his followers to pray for him to get through immigration.

"The revocation was based on a pile of lies, including the idea that I promote violence," the post said.

"My 25-year history of peaceful, prayerful action speaks for itself.

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"Through a chain of events the Lord has allowed me to get on a plane in spite of many objections by the airlines and Australia."

Mr Newman has a month to challenge the visa refusal from the United States. If successful he can return to Australia.

Labor MP Terri Butler said she respectfully agreed with the court's decision.

"The guy got on a plane knowing he didn't have a visa and tried to get in past immigration and customs ... you can't get any more contemptuous of Australian law than that, you can't get more arrogant than that," she said.

Ms Butler said if Mr Newman decided to challenge the decision he should do so in a more "respectful" way.

"If you think you can just ignore our law and treat our courts as though they don't matter and treat our Government as if it doesn't matter, well people aren't going to cop that," she said.