The Australian government says a Nepalese baby who was being treated in a hospital in Brisbane will be deported back to a detention centre for asylum seekers on the Pacific Island of Nauru.

Doctors refused to discharge the one-year-old, who was being treated for serious burns, unless she was provided a "suitable home environment".

The standoff sparked protests outside Brisbane's Lady Cilento Hospital in support of the doctors.

Jon Donnison reports from Sydney.