The wire fences, which have been erected around the memorial on the ridge at Isurava​ and at the stony outcrop known as Con's Rock, have sparked tensions that led to an Australian tour guide being bashed by a stick-wielding landowner on Anzac Day.

The Australian government has made diplomatic overtures to the PNG government to have the fences removed from the track, which about 3000 to 4000 tourists traverse each year.

But trek operators say the barriers, which comprise wire and star pickets cemented into the ground, are still in place and landowners charge about $25 per trekker for access to Isurava and $5 for Con's Rock.

Both sites were a major part of the Kokoda campaign, which took place in August 1942.

At Isurava, scores of Australians died when they mounted a heroic delaying action against a larger Japanese force.

At nearby Con's or "Surgeon's" rock, which is an outcrop of flat stones, Australian medical orderly Con Vapp treated wounded soldiers and is thought to have conducted an emergency amputation on a Digger lying on the rock.

Disgruntled trekking company operators say they already pay a fee to the Papua New Guinean government's Kokoda Track Authority (KTA), which is supposed to be used to to benefit locals.

"Australians are being held to ransom," says Kokoda Historical trek operator David Howell, who has been taking tour groups on the track for 10 years.

"It will spill over and that might mean blocking the track and stopping people from walking it," Mr Howell said.

He said one of his guides, a retired Victorian policeman, was hit on the back of the neck with a stick by a member of the family responsible for fencing off Isurava.

The guide was confronted by a landowner wanting to know why payment had not been received for the Anzac Day services at the memorial, he said.

As the guide spoke to the landowner, another man from the same family came up behind him and hit him with a stick, Mr Howell said.

Local porters intervened and calmed the situation and the guide went on to finish the trek, he said.

"He [the tour guide] has now sent me an email, saying he is never going back to the track. This is very sad as this is a guy who was involved in helping establishing the Isurava memorial."

Our Spirit trek operator Aidan Grimes said things had been simmering in the lead-up to Anzac Day.

He believed  Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) officials had held meetings with the PNG government to ease tensions and halt the fee demands on Anzac Day.

Landowner Martin Liva confirmed he was still charging the fee to Trekkers at Isurava.

He said he was charging the fee because for 12 years the Australian and the PNG governments had done nothing for his village.

He said some war veterans who visited the site in the early days had made promises but nothing had happened. He confirmed someone from his clan had hit the guide but said he had spoken to the guide and sorted it out.

"The money that we get from charging trekkers goes to help the village," he said.

A DFAT spokesman said on Friday the Australian government had brought the situation to the attention of the PNG government on multiple occasions.

The spokesman said the Australian government did not believe it was appropriate for the memorial to be fenced and fees charged for access.

"The Australian government understands that landowners have now agreed to drop additional charges. The PNG government is requesting for the fence to be removed," he said.

But trekking operators said on Saturday the fence remained and fees were still being charged. They provided photos of one of the fences at Isurava and a sign demanding payment.

Mr Grimes said the idea that trekkers or tour operators needed to carry significant cash to pay landowners raised safety concerns.

Trekking companies were sympathetic to the landowners' gripes but believed it was up to the Kokoda Track Authority to liaise with landowners.

The authority receives about $187 per trekker from tour operators, with a percentage meant to go back to the track communities via special projects, Mr Grimes said.

Authority chief James Enage and operations manager Michale O'Kave were both unavailable for comment.