Jakarta has demanded an immediate halt to the Abbott government's asylum-seeker turnbacks policy and announced it will send a frigate to bolster its southern defences after Australian ships repeatedly breached Indonesian territorial waters.

In a dramatic escalation of the diplomatic tensions over border protection, Indonesia drew a line in the sand, saying it would step up its own maritime patrols.

After the Abbott government was forced to apologise over the incidents, Agus Barnas, the spokesman for the Co-ordinating Ministry of Political, Legal and Security Affairs, said the Indonesian government branded the incursions "a serious matter in bilateral relations".

"Indonesia demands that such operations conducted by the Australian government that led to these incidents be suspended until formal clarification is received and assurances of no recurrence of such incidents has been provided," he said.