Police pay $20m to guard Julian Assange

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Source: AAP

The cost of policing the embassy in London where Julian Assange has been holed up since mid-2012 has now topped $A20 million.

A London radio station has crunched the numbers after a freedom of information request revealed the Metropolitan Police had spent $A18 million guarding the Ecuadorean diplomatic mission to the end of October 2014.

That's $A21,000 per day and, given Assange has been inside the embassy for 960 days since June 19, 2012, the total figure to date is now just over $20 million.

A frustrated British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg on Thursday insisted the Australian should leave the embassy and "face justice".

The WikiLeaks founder is avoiding extradition to Sweden over allegations of sexual assault.

Assange fears if he's extradited he could subsequently be sent to the United States and charged over the website's release of classified documents.

Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office says the government remains committed to reaching a "diplomatic solution".

"We are clear that our laws must be followed and Mr Assange should be extradited to Sweden," a spokeswoman said in a statement on Thursday.

"As ever we look to Ecuador to help bring this difficult, and costly, situation to an end."

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Police pay $20m to guard Julian Assange