Detained Indian doctor Mohammed Haneef was on Wednesday allowed by Australian authorities to speak to his wife in Bangalore for the first time since he was taken into custody nine days ago for suspected links to the failed UK terror plots, his lawyer said.

Haneef's counsel Peter Russo said the 27-year-old  got in touch with his wife over telephone about noon local time after
the Indian consulate confirmed the phone number for security purposes.

"He got a call through this afternoon," Russo said adding, "he was fairly elated that he got to make the call."

Haneef, a registrar at the Gold Coast Hospital, was taken into custody at Brisbane airport on July 2 as he was about to leave Australia on a one-way ticket to India.

He has since been detained without charge on suspicion of being linked to last month's botched terror bomb plots in London [Images] and Glasgow.

Russo said Haneef was "relieved" to have spoken with his wife, Firdous, who recently gave birth to a baby.

Australian Federal Police were on Wednesday afternoon seeking to extend the time they can hold Haneef without charge.

The lawyer said he had been given extra information about the case by the police on Wednesday, but would still oppose the extension of downtime.

Downtime is the period for which a person can be detained without charge before the 12 hours of questioning begins.

"We will be opposing it, but we have just got to take one step at a time now, and see how it unfolds," Russo said.

The Australian Greens party on Wednesday called for Haneef to be charged or released.

"It's quite an extraordinary period of detention," Greens Senator Kerry Nettle said.

The AFP lodged a court application for a five-day extension of Haneef's detention on Monday, but the magistrate
hearing the case only agreed to a 48-hour interim order to allow them to compile their case.

The order is due to expire shortly after 6 pm (local time) on Wednesday, with the AFP seeking a three-day extension from this time.