Australian consular officials have met with journalist Cheng Lei for a second time, more than six weeks after she was detained in .
Ms Cheng, an Australian citizen, was working as a high-profile television anchor for state-run Chinese broadcaster CGTN before she was taken into custody on 14 August.
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) spokesperson confirmed to SBS News consular officials were granted a virtual visit with Ms Cheng on 28 September but declined to provide information about her condition, citing privacy obligations.
"The Australian Government is providing consular assistance to an Australian citizen, Ms Cheng Lei, who is detained in China, and her family," the spokesperson said on Wednesday night.
Ms Cheng's two children are currently staying with family in Melbourne.
The popular journalist is being held in what Chinese authorities call "residential surveillance at a designated location", .
China's foreign ministry has previously said Ms Cheng was under investigation for offences endangering China's national security but has not elaborated on the charges.
Earlier this month, Sydney academic Chongyi Feng - who himself was detained by Chinese authorities for a week in 2017 -, including constant surveillance by secret service officers, marathon interrogations, and torture.
“It’s a very notorious form of detention. It can be regarded as the worst one around the world nowadays,” Dr Feng, an associate professor in China studies at the University of Technology Sydney, told SBS News.
“The Chinese authorities created [it] to deal with political dissidents and other government officials who are put under detention, to shield them from the outside world at a facility run by the secret police to extract a confession.”
Ms Cheng, who was raised in Australia and studied at the University of Queensland, had worked at CGTN for eight years, following stints at CNBC Asia in Singapore and China and at CGTN's predecessor CCTV News.
She has been described as a "bridge between China and Australia" who used her connections to both countries to further bilateral relationships and someone who was .
“Why her, why now? She hasn’t really done anything extraordinary. She’s not overly outspoken about the political situation in China,” Delia Lin, a senior lecturer in Chinese Studies at Melbourne University, told SBS News earlier this month.
Australian writer Yang Hengjun has been held in the same type of detention as Ms Cheng for more than 19 months, also charged with broad national security offences.
Australian journalists Michael Smith (L) and Bill Birtles (R) were forced to leave China after being questioned by police. Source: Twitter via Bill Birtles
Investigations into a number of high-profile journalists in China and Australia have strained relations between the two countries in recent months.
Most recently, a Chinese journalist whose Australian home was raided as part of an investigation in June has labelled the action as unfounded and baseless.
Yang Jingzhong, who was the Sydney bureau chief of state news agency Xinhua, told Chinese media Australian authorities conducted a seven-hour search of his home on 26 June, confiscating a number of electronic devices and documents.
China has previously as part of a broader investigation into NSW politician Shaoquett Moselmane. All four journalists have since returned to China, they said.
The last two Australian correspondents based in China - the ABC's Bill Birtles and the Australian Financial Review's Michael Smith - after being questioned by Chinese authorities about the investigation into Ms Cheng.
