The oversight body noted there was an ongoing potential for corruption via grooming efforts by criminal gangs and illicit businesses within a number of the Home Affairs agencies and quarantine officials it oversees.

The Australian Law Enforcement Integrity Commission said some officers could unwittingly be targeted by someone seeking to exploit their insights into operations, the agency outlined in its latest annual report.

"Law enforcement officials were deliberately targeted by commercial and criminal entities with a view to corrupting them to secure undue advantages," the report said.

"There is never any justification for disclosing official information to family, friends or other unofficial contacts."

A five-month investigation in 2017 had resulted in a three-year prison sentence for an Australian Border Force officer, who became involved with a criminal syndicate running an illegal tobacco smuggling scheme.

Grooming, the watchdog said, had been a major factor in the syndicate's successful recruitment of the border official.

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ACLEI said it was developing a new training video in response to the corruption threat as part of its prevention strategy.

The video would educate officials on the early signs and indicators of grooming and potential corrupt conduct.

It had provided 22 corruption prevention presentations during to the reporting period, including to AFP protective service officer recruits, border force officials and ACCC staff among others.

Nearly 500 notifications of potential corruption were submitted to the watchdog with Home Affairs, which includes the border force agency, totalling 71 per cent of them and the Australian Federal Police following with 23 per cent.

Both bodies were expected to be the source of most notifications given their size and the nature of their work, the watchdog's report said.

The Home Affairs Department had informed ALCEI it was undertaking an active detection campaign, which looked at unauthorised access to one of its key systems.

The campaign resulted in the watchdog being notified of a total of 172 instances of potential corruption by the department.

ACLEI is expected to absorbed into a larger anti-corruption body after the federal government announced its plans to establish the Commonwealth Integrity Commission late last year.

The new body would have a total of 172 staff at full capacity, absorbing existing staff from the law enforcement integrity body.

ACLEI now oversees nine agencies, including Home Affairs, AFP, AUSTRAC, ACCC and the ATO, after its jurisdiction was expanded in January 2021 to include a number of financial regulatory agencies.

In a Senate estimates hearing in October, commissioner Jaala Hinchliffe said she had not held a public hearing while in the role and believed her predecessors hadn't either.