JAKARTA - A weeks-long standoff by Sri Lankan asylum seekers who have refused to leave an Australian customs ship in Indonesia is set to end after the migrants agreed to disembark, an official said Tuesday.

The 56 ethnic Tamil asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking anchored off the Indonesian island of Bintan near Singapore will come ashore early Wednesday, foreign ministry official Sujatmiko told AFP.

"Australia said the migrants want to get off the ship. We'll process them tomorrow (Wednesday)," Sujatmiko said, without elaborating.

The migrants are the remainder of a group of 78 Sri Lankans rescued at sea from their sinking boat by the Australians in Indonesia's search and rescue zone last month.

The group had refused to come ashore in Indonesia, saying they wanted to be taken to Australia.

A group of 22 asylum seekers, including 15 who had already been found to be refugees, left the ship last week after receiving assurances they would be quickly resettled abroad.

The standoff has caused a political headache for Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who has been under pressure over increasing arrivals that have seen more than 1,600 boat people this year seeking asylum from countries such as Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

Indonesia, which sprawls across 17,000 islands to Australia's north, has been a key staging point for migrants being taken by people smugglers on the perilous sea journey to Australia.