Special forces veteran Heston Russell has criticised media coverage of Ben Roberts-Smith's arrest, after the former SAS soldier was taken into custody over alleged war crimes in front of his teenage daughters.

Roberts-Smith, Australia's most decorated living soldier, was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday morning after arriving on a flight from Brisbane. 

He was later charged with two counts of the war crime of murder and three counts of aiding or abetting those offences.

The 47-year-old is accused of murdering unarmed civilians while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, and of failing to prevent members of his unit from killing three others.

Each charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Roberts-Smith, who was awarded the Victoria Cross and a Medal for Gallantry, has consistently denied any wrongdoing during his service with the Australian Defence Force.

As coverage of the decorated soldier's arrest ramped up, former commando Heston Russell criticised the media, taking aim at a Nine News headline that claimed Roberts-Smith's Victoria Cross was 'now at risk'. 

'Completely incorrect, 9News,' he said on social media. 'The action for which Ben won his Victoria Cross has never been in question - the medal is awarded for a specific act of valour.'

Mr Russell said that it was important Roberts-Smith be afforded due process and the presumption of innocence. 

'I've really had absolutely enough of all this playing out in the media and I'm so disappointed it's be allowed to do so for so long.'

Mr Russell warned failures to do so would risk undermining confidence in the legal system and prejudicing outcomes before facts are tested in court.

'The circumstances of this arrest - involving media presence alongside police as he arrived with his daughters off a plane - are deeply concerning,' he said.

'It raises serious questions about whether the integrity of the process, and the presumption of innocence, have already been compromised.

'This is not how justice should be done, Australia.'

Mr Russell's comments echoed those of a source close to Roberts-Smith, who said authorities had set out to 'inflict maximum distress' when he was taken into custody.

'He has never shied away from his accusers, nor sought to avoid scrutiny or place himself beyond the reach of Australian authorities,' they told the Daily Mail. 

The source said Roberts-Smith's legal team had repeatedly told the AFP and OSI he would present himself 'at a time and place of their choosing should any charges be brought'.

'Instead, he was arrested upon arrival in Sydney during a short visit with his children,' the source said.

'In doing so, authorities chose to inflict maximum distress in front of his two young daughters.'

Roberts-Smith spent the night in Sydney's Silverwater prison after his dramatic arrest yesterday.

He did not appear at a brief, online NSW Bail Division Court hearing on Wednesday, when his case was first heard and his lawyers did not make an immediate application for his release.

They tried instead to have the matter listed for an in-person hearing at the city-centre Downing Centre Local Court for later in the day but conceded that might not be possible.

'We understand that's a bit of a pipe dream,' his lawyer Jordan Portokalli told the bail court.

The judge agreed and re-listed the matter for June 4, meaning the Victoria Cross recipient will remain in custody for at least two months.

A Federal Court judge previously found Roberts-Smith was responsible for a number of killings but those findings were made on the balance of probabilities, rather than the criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt.

Roberts-Smith will be the second Australian soldier to be charged with war crimes under domestic law after another ex-SAS soldier, Oliver Schulz, was charged in 2023 over the war crime of the 2012 murder of a young man in Afghanistan.

Schulz has maintained his innocence and his matter is yet to go to trial. 

Nine has been contacted for comment.