Five men have been arrested in Cairns by Australian Federal Police overnight in what's been described as a "disruption" operation.
The Courier-Mail reported the men, all on a terrorism watch list, towed a 'tinnie' boat up the coast from Melbourne with plans to sail it to Indonesia once they reached the northernmost tip of Queensland.
An Australian Federal Police statement said the arrests were part of a multi-jurisdictional operation involving Joint Counter-Terrorism Teams in Victoria and Queensland and nine search warrants had been executed.
While AFP did not confirm details of the road trip and tinnie, the statement said the men were arrested in relation to suspicion of potential offences against the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act, "specifically those concerning incursions into foreign countries to engage in hostile activities".