Days of peaceful protests are now on hold at Manus Island as the residents reflect on the latest death.
Iranian-Kurdish resident and journalist Behrouz Boochani told SBS News emotions are at boiling point.
"The refugees are very, very angry and sad and we cancelled our protest because we are not going to make any violence and we cancelled the protest and we are going to have a ceremony for him."
It's believed the man was an Iranian asylum-seeker with a history of mental illness who was due for resettlement in Papua New Guinea.
But Dr Barri Phatarfod, from Doctors for Refugees, says pleas for help over the past year went unanswered.
"Now this poor, unfortunate man, Doctors for Refugees has been aware of for at least a year and for at least a year we have been writing to the immigration department asking for him to be moved to Australia because we knew he was at risk but it's always fallen on deaf ears."
It's not known exactly when the man died.
His body was believed to have been found in a forest.
Activists say Manus Island is no longer a safe place for asylum-seekers and refugees.
Daniel Webb is with the Human Rights Law Centre.
"Our government can't guarantee their safety. Our government can't guarantee that any one of them is going to be re-settled in the United States. It becomes more and more clear with every passing day and with every tragedy that the only responsible and humane thing for our government to do is immediately evacuate every single man on Manus, every snigle family and child on Nauru to safety on Australia.'
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection says PNG authorities are investigating the man's death.
