The trial of 20 Al Jazeera journalists accused of aiding or joining the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement is to resume on Monday.

The case has stirred a chorus of international condemnation over the stifling of media freedom in Egypt.

The journalists include award-winning Australian reporter Peter Greste, Canadian-Egyptian Cairo bureau chief Mohammed Fahmy, and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed.

The Australian Consul in Egypt is attending the trial to monitor proceedings, reported Ahram Arabic news website.

They have been in custody since late December, when they were arrested at a Cairo hotel over an alleged illegal broadcast.  

Only eight of the defendants are in custody, with the rest being tried in absentia.

Al Jazeera dismisses the charges against its staff as "absurd" and "baseless" and continues to call for their release.

The Doha-based media network, which is now banned from working in Egypt and broadcasts from Qatar, says only nine of its journalists are among the defendants.

Security forces shut down Al Jazeera’s Cairo offices following the army's overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi on 3 July. The authorities accused the network's Egyptian channel of giving favourable coverage to Morsi's Brotherhood movement.

Al Jazeera Arabic's Abdullah El-Shamy has been detained without charge since 14 August 2013, and has been on hunger strike since late January, the media network said.

Australian reporter Greste is the only foreign defendant in detention. Two Britons, Sue Turton and Dominic Kane, and Dutch journalist Rena Netjes, who fled the country after being indicted despite not working for the channel, are abroad and are being tried in absentia.

Last week, Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour pledged a speedy resolution of Greste's trial in a letter sent to the journalist's parents, which the network called an "encouraging sign."

The last hearing of the case was held early in March.