Australian Julian Assange remained holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy last night despite claims by his organisation Wikileaks that he could be expelled within hours.

Dozens of journalists have been staking out the embassy in London’s fashionable Knightsbridge since Thursday, when Wikileaks tweeted it had been told a high-level source win Ecuador had warned Assange would be expelled within “hours to days.’’

Melbourne-born Assange remained out of sight in his room on the first floor, as supporters gathered outside with trucks and banners.

He has been hiding inside the embassy since fleeing there in 2012 when he jumped court bail in London, after seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations.

Assange, who had published more than 700,000 leaked documents about the 2003 American war in Iraq which severely embarrassed the US Government, always denied the allegations and claimed the Swedish charges were a cover to have him extradited to the US.

While Ecuador granted him asylum, he has since fallen out with new President Lenin Moreno’s administration, and claims he was about to be expelled have circulated for months. His internet has been cut off in the past after the government accused him of meddling in elections, and stories about him leaked to the press from officials within the embassy.

The latest row is over the “INA Papers’’ corruption scandal involving Moreno, and claims Assange leaked images of Moreno’s family.

Australia has recently granted Assange a passport, and while the UK has warned he will be arrested and charged with breaching bail if and when he steps outside, government officials in the UK and Australia seem to believe his time in the embassy is drawing to a close.

Outside the embassy, Assange supporter Fethi told News Corp Australia he saw the potential expulsion as a direct attack on free speech.

“I’m just worried if he’s going to be kicked out of the Ecuadorean Embassy, so I’m here to support it,’’ he said.

Fethi, who asked to be identified only by his first name, said he would wait all day outside, although he believed there was only a 50-50 per cent chance Assange would be expelled.

Two days before WikiLeaks claimed their founder was to be expelled, Moreno said of Assange, “(he) has too often repeatedly violated the agreement we have with him and his legal team”.

“It’s not that he cannot speak freely, it is not that he cannot express himself freely, but he cannot lie, let alone hack into accounts of intercept private telephone calls,” the president said.

The Ecuadorean Government denied claims of the expulsion and its foreign ministry released a statement saying it “doesn’t comment on rumours, theories or conjectures that don’t have any documented backing”.

Another supporter Josephine Heribel said she would wait outside the embassy “as long as it takes”.

“The issue is not how long, it’s for us to all support him and even if he is arrested we have to continue the struggle, for truth and justice,” she said.

WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands of files online which were stolen by former US Army Intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.

Manning is currently detained at the Trusedale Detention Centre in Virginia where she has been held since early March for refusing to give grand jury testimony about Assange.

She previously served seven years of a 35-year-sentence for espionage and released after former US President Barack Obama commuted her term.

Outside the embassy the ambassador for Ecuador, Jaime Marchan told Chilean newspaper El Ciudadano Chile there was “no change in the Señor Julian Assange situation. To say we are going to take him out of the embassy is an offence to Ecuador”.

Mr Marchan refused to comment if Assange would be released in the coming hours.

Vaughan Smith, journalist and friend of Assange, spoke to reporters after visiting the flat, which he described as “oppressive”, on Friday afternoon.

Mr Smith said the feeling inside was “extremely tense” with Assange “convinced” his eviction from was imminent.

“I visit really because I’m concerned about how he is in there,” Mr Smith said.

“It troubles me we all so seem comfortable to see a person sit in a place like that for so long.”

He claimed the US had an extradition order for Assange and said, “It’s either being in there, which is not a comfortable place to be without internet, or it’s potentially going to the American gulag”.

Assange was in good health but had visibly lost weight, according to Mr Smith, who said a life under the watch of authorities was taking its toll.

“Inside there are two cameras virtually in every room,” he said.

“You’re talking about a very monitored life with no real escape for you.

“It’s a tough place to be, but he’s a tough guy.”

Assange’s lawyers released a statement on Friday which said the potential expulsion would be “illegal”.

“It will be a sad day for democracy if the UK and Ecuadorean governments are willing to act as accomplices to the Trump administration’s determination to prosecute a publisher for publishing truthful information,” the statement read.

In a tweet WikiLeaks claimed to have obtained the “agreed press strategy” for Assange’s potential eviction.

“1. UK lead 2. Ecuador will say Assange has broken many of its invented “asylum terms” 3. UK will say won’t let US kill Assange, due process. Ecuador will pretend that this is a concession and that asylum was for death penalty,” the tweet read.