An Indonesian court has sentenced two British journalists to two-and-a-half months’ jail for working without proper approval, but they will be freed in two days due to the time served.

Prosecutors had been seeking five-month jail sentences for Neil Bonner, 32, and Rebecca Prosser, 31, who were accused of having only tourist visas while attempting to make the film on piracy.

But the judge on the western island of Batam handed down a lesser sentence of two-and-a-half months, saying the defendants had admitted their guilt and apologised.

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Unless prosecutors appeal against the sentence, their lawyer said the pair, who have been detained since May, could walk free after time spent in custody awaiting trial is taken into account.

Ms Prosser speaks to media after the court trial on November 3. Photo: AAP

Prosser said it was a “big relief” to be going home but condemned their sentence as a “criminalisation of journalists”.

“I think this makes it a more dangerous landscape for other journalists in Indonesia,” she told reporters in Batam after the sentence was passed.

Bonner thanked their supporters but expressed sadness because “this is journalism on trial, and we’ve been found guilty”.

“I don’t think journalism is a crime,” he said.

Presiding judge Wahyu Prasetyo Wibowo said the defendants had violated their visas but admitted their wrongdoing and apologised.

“The defendants have been proven legally and convincingly guilty as foreigners who have violated staying permits in Indonesia,” Mr Wibowo told the packed Batam district court.

The pair arrived in Indonesia to shoot a documentary about piracy for production house Wall to Wall with funding from National Geographic, according to their indictment.

It added they had hired several Indonesians to act out a scene of a tanker being boarded by a group of pirates off Batam. The island is in the Malacca Strait, a major shipping lane.

Their lawyer Aristo Pangaribuan expressed regret that the prosecution was considering filing an appeal, saying his clients were not bad people who had served their time and would pay the 25 million rupiah fine ($US1,850) imposed on each.

“I told the judge I hope the prosecutors are on the same page, because if they file an appeal, whether we like it or not we have to deal with it,” he said.

– ABC