Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said on Tuesday the government would review security at the centre after rioting detainees lit fires and damaged parts of the facility, which he estimated would cost more than $1 million to fix.

Extra police were flown in to help secure the detention centre on Tuesday, two days after rioting began following the death of Iranian Kurd asylum seeker Fazel Chegeni.

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection said the centre was back under the "full and effective control" of service providers and department staff.

A spokesperson said all detainees had been accounted for and five had presented with injuries that were being assessed by medical officers.

Mr Dutton said the five detainees had minor lacerations and other injuries as "a result of their interaction with the police and their refusal to comply with the directions provided by the Australian Federal Police."

"The situation obviously from there means the police, on entry into the centre, will use reasonable force," Mr Dutton said.

"It will depend on the force used against them by the detainees, bearing in mind we've got members of outlaw motorcycle gangs, people who are rated as extreme risk within that population.

"They are the people that make up the population within the Christmas Island immigration detention centre and the federal police will use necessary force to make sure that they counter the risk posed to them."

He said there was "some use of tear gas" but could not confirm if rubber bullets were also part of the force used against detainees.

Mr Dutton said it was a "hardened criminal population" that now occupied the Christmas Island detention centre.

Of the 199 people at the centre, he said 27 had convictions of assault, 11 for armed robbery, and five for child sex offences.

"The list goes on and on including four people who have been convicted of rape or sexual assault, nine people of theft, robbery, break and enter."

He said there would be an investigation into the riot and people found to have damaged Commonwealth property could face charges.

Mr Dutton said he had no comment to make on the individual circumstances of Mr Chegeni, a refugee who had been convicted with assault after a confrontation at the Curtin detention centre.

Refugee advocate Pamela Curr told The West Australian this week he was a "gentle man" and had been unfairly convicted after he tried to defend himself from an attack in the centre's dining hall.

"There are other facts in relation to that case that will be examined by the police and by the coronial inquest," Mr Dutton said on Tuesday.

"But it doesn't go just to what a person's convictions might be. It will go to the threat that they pose to the detention centre staff or threats that have been made against the staff or, indeed, actions within the centre against other detainees."

A department spokesperson said an assessment would be conducted to determine how much damage had been done to the centre.

"Some force was used with a core group of detainees who had built barricades and actively resisted attempts to secure compounds, including threatened use of weapons and improvised weapons," the statement said.

"The centre remains calm, with detainees secured in undamaged areas of the centre. Food, fluid and medical support continues to be provided."

"Service provider staff will conduct a sweep of all compounds to search for contraband including weapons before detainees are moved back into normal accommodation areas."

One detainee had described the situation at the centre on Monday as being like "a war zone".

"They've been smashing windows and walls, smashing the cameras, looting the canteen, setting fires. The place has been smashed to pieces," the inmate said.

Others said detainees had heard screaming as Mr Chegeni was pursued after he escaped detention on Saturday.

"We heard him screaming. I think they were chasing him through the jungle. Then the screams just stopped," one detainee said.

They said guards later told inmates the man had died in an accident.

Follow us on Twitter