Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner and her estranged husband Ali Elamine are being urged by a Lebanese judge to reach an agreement over the custody of their children, as criminal proceedings continue in Beirut over a bungled bid to grab the two youngsters.

Faulkner has appeared in court alongside 60 Minutes journalist Tara Brown and her crew, Benjamin Williamson, David Ballment and Stephen Rice, over a botched attempt to retrieve her two young children in Beirut last week.

Tara Brown and the 60 Minutes crew were detained in Lebanon.

The Australians will remain in a pre-trial detention in Lebanon until at least next week, when they are due to appear in court again.

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Brown was quoted by News Corp as saying they were being treated well in detention: "Quite genuinely we are being treated well by the standards here, it's fine, it's not crowded."

They are facing charges of kidnapping and being members of a criminal gang, which can attract maximum sentences of up to three years and 10 years respectively.

Ms Faulkner with Lahala. Photo: Facebook

The children, Noah, 4, and Lahela, 6, were returned to their father soon after they were snatched by a child recovery team as they were walking with their paternal grandmother on a street in the southern Beirut suburb of Hadath.

The 60 Minutes team were allegedly in Lebanon to report on the recovery of the children.

Investigative Judge Rami Abdullah ordered Ms Faulkner to reach an agreement with her estranged husband and father of their two children Ali Elamine, which could assist the 60 Minutes crew.

Ms Faulker's lawyer Ghassan Moghabghab said Mr Elamine was hesitant about coming to an agreement, and Ms Faulkner was not in a position to set conditions.

"She is depressed," Mr Moghabghab said, adding any progress between the parents would "certainly have a positive reflection on the case of the TV crew".

"The husband has to drop the charges," he said. "The judge is pushing [for him] to do that."

The case before Judge Abdullah, which began on Tuesday, is ongoing in the Baabda Palace of Justice in Beirut.

In a further positive development, Foreign Minister Mr Bassil said he had given instructions to form a joint Lebanese-Australian committee to resolve the custody case of the two children.

"Australians should respect Lebanese laws and the Lebanese should respect Australian laws," Mr Bassil said after meeting with Ambassador Miles.

He expressed hope that the incident "would not have an impact on Lebanese-Australian relations".

Brown and Ms Faulkner entered the Judge's office handcuffed together.

Wearing black, Brown was accompanied by her lawyer Kamal Abo Daher.

She was the first of the 60 Minutes crew to be interrogated by Judge Abdullah.

Producer Stephen Rice, cameraman Ben Williamson and sound recordist David Ballment were next to be brought before the judge, all cuffed together, according to ABC Middle East correspondent Matt Brown.

Britons Adam Whittington and Craig Michael - members of the child recovery hired to retrieve the children - were brought in for interrogation at 2.50pm Beirut time. Michael was shivering and told Fairfax Media he was "very sick".

A guard who did not wish to be named revealed that Mr Michael had been in Al Hayat hospital on Tuesday night and was suffering from "depression".

Judge Abdullah will decide whether to uphold or dismiss the charges.

The crew will rigorously fight the charges, according to Channel Nine management.

A spokeswoman for Channel Nine said the network was co-operating fully with the Lebanese authorities.

It will be some days before the crew are interviewed by the judge, which will be their first chance to defend the charges, the Channel Nine spokeswoman said in a statement.

Journalists were forced to delete all photos and videos on their devices before being led into the court room.

The attempted child recovery operation in downtown Beirut has become a diplomatic incident and a public relations disaster for Channel Nine.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull addressed the charges earlier on Wednesday.

"We respect the Lebanese legal system and their right to investigate and take proceedings if they feel offences have been committed," he said.

"But we support Australians who find themselves in these difficulties and these circumstances right around the world and of course we're doing that with respect to the 60 Minutes crew in Beirut at the moment," he said.

Ms Faulkner, 29, a former air hostess, had travelled to Lebanon to try to recover her two children Lahala, six, and Noah, four, from their father Mr Elamine, a Beirut surf business owner.

Mr Elamine was alleged to have failed to return their children to Australia as promised after a holiday in Lebanon.

Mr Elamine told the media on Tuesday that the children are "in good health and that is what matters", and that it was rough for the children but he had calmed them down.

He stressed that "children should not have been dragged into this situation".

On Wednesday last week, local time, a car containing employees of British-based firm Child Abduction Recovery International (CARI) and Ms Faulkner had allegedly driven near a bus stop in South Beirut where Mr Elamine's mother and a nanny were walking the two young children.

Two CARI agents allegedly got out of the the car and grabbed the children from the arms of the women, while a third passenger appeared to be video recording the incident, according to grainy security camera video captured by a CCTV camera at a nearby shop.

When one of the women appeared to fight back, she was pushed away from the vehicle, which then sped off.

Inside the car, Ms Faulkner was reunited with her children and dropped off at another location.

With AAP and Kate Aubusson