The conduct of the ABC for its underground investigation into climate protestors and police tactics appears the tip of the iceberg after airing its Four Corners episode on Monday night.

The national broadcaster was widely condemned after riding shotgun behind Disrupt Burrup Hub's planned protest outside the City Beach home of Woodside Energy boss Meg O'Neill in August, before police lying in wait arrested group members before it began.

The airing of the documentary Escalation: Climate, protest and the fight for the future has reignited tensions between the ABC and WA Police, after it questioned police tactics used to target climate protesters, such as executing search warrants and arresting members at their homes.

Undercover footage shows Disrupt Burrup Hub activists Matilda Lane-Rose, Gerard Mazza and Tahlia Stolarski preparing their protest the night before descending on Ms O'Neill's home, with the Four Corners crew riding in a seperate vehicle behind.

WA Police have demanded the ABC hands over footage from its investigation, which it is reluctant to do, as pressure mounts for the national broadcaster to refuse the order.

The police order relates to all footage shot by the Four Corners crew over several months, not just on the day of the protest.

The Burrup Peninsula, known as Murujuga to Traditional Owners, contains the biggest and oldest collection of petroglyphs in the world.

The ABC's media union met on Friday and urged ABC management to withhold the footage, saying the organisation's reputation was at stake if it did.

"Journalism has a long and storied history of resisting legal compulsion when it is against the public interest," the committee said in an endorsed statement.

"We demand immediate assurances that the ABC executive will not hand the vision to WA Police."

ABC managing director David Anderson said it would "never" reveal its sources.

At the time of the incident Woodside chief executive Meg O'Neil said she had been left feeling "shaken, fearful and distressed".

"It doesn't matter if you're a member of the business community, in professional athletics, or just a school kid… everybody has the right to feel safe in their own home," she said.

"What happened at my home… is an unacceptable escalation in activity by an extremist group which has absolutely no interest in engaging in respectful and constructive debate."

Ms Lane-Rose, Mr Mazza and Mr Noakes are facing charges over the incident.