More than 800 counter-terrorism police and ASIO officers swooped on homes early on Thursday, with some of the 15 people detained believed to have links to the terror group Islamic State.

"The timing of the raids is more than interesting in light of the raising of Australia's terrorism alert level only last week," Dr Mark Rix, who is researching counter-terrorism and the rule of law and national security at the University of Wollongong, said.

"The raids seem, at first sight at least, to be a bit of a knee-jerk reaction in the way of showing us all that the government, ASIO and the AFP are doing something," Dr Rix said.

"But such knee-jerk reactions have a tendency to go horribly wrong for suspects and those taken into custody for questioning."

The Australian Defence Force will consider boosting security at bases around the country in the wake of the nation's largest counter-terrorism operation.

Police believe the Sydney-based group, linked to Islamic State, was planning random acts of violence against members of the public.

Dr Rix, who has a special interest in counter-terrorism, said there were lessons to be learned from the cases of Mohamed Haneef and Izhar Ul-Haque.

Dr Haneef, an Indian doctor working in Australia, was arrested under anti-terrorism legislation for links to the terrorist attack at Glasgow Airport in 2007.

Dr Haneef's ensuing detention became the longest without charge in recent Australian history. He was released when the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions withdrew its charge and was later awarded compensation from the Australian government.

Sydney doctor Izhar Ul-Haque was accused of training with Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group which has fought against Indian claims to control Kashmir.

A NSW judge found two Australian secret service agents had kidnapped and falsely imprisoned the doctor on trumped-up terrorism charges. He was freed after being held in detention for more than three years.

Dr Rix said both cases revealed "how a crude association of Islam with terrorism ... permitted the AFP and ASIO to perpetrate abuses of due process and human rights".

Director of UOW's Institute for Transnational and Maritime Security, Greg Rose, who is  an expert in international law and its application to counter-terrorism, said dealing with the current home-grown threat required co-operation between all agencies, with a focus on people of interest coming in from or going to jihadist conflict zones, usually through airports.

Prof Rose said agencies must be vigilant in matching and updating their "watch lists" and good co-operation was needed from "foreign passenger carriers and foreign intelligence gatherers".