Convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby spent several hours in a Denpasar beauty salon yesterday beside the hospital where she is being treated for depression amid concerns she could commit suicide.

Corby appeared well on the road to recovery, with inquiries by Fairfax Media also revealing she had sneaked out of her hospital room over the past few nights to buy ice cream at a nearby mini-mart.

Store staff said Corby seemed healthy. "She was here, shopping with her family and the police guarding," said the counter attendant. "She bought clothes, even ice cream. She was laughing, she doesn't look sick."

At the Gardenia Beauty Salon, staff refused to say what treatment Corby received during her three-hour visit. Aside from hairdressing and facials, the salon also offers spas and massages.

Outing permitted

The head psychiatrist at Sanglah Hospital, Nyoman Ratep, said the outing was permitted as the salon was within the hospital grounds and she was accompanied by medical staff.

Corby was "doing better" Dr Ratep said, adding "she's still being treated, she's still on medication."

She would remain in the hospital for "a few extra days", Dr Ratep said.

Police also accompanied Corby, who made no comment but appeared upset when she discovered photographers had staked out the salon. She attempted to leave through a back entrance, until she realised journalists were there too.

Exiting the salon, Corby attempted to shield her face with paper, and then walked downcast with a baseball cap pulled low.

Hallucinations, depression, weight loss

Always a cause celebre in Australia, Corby's case is again in the international spotlight, with the American screening of a documentary Ganja Queen which raised questions over the involvement of her family in drugs and admissions from her lawyers they concocted parts of her defence.

Corby has always maintained she was an innocent victim after being caught with a boogie board bag containing four kilograms of marijuana at Denpasar airport in 2004. She is serving a 20-year sentence.

She was transferred to the hospital from Bali's Kerobokan prison two weeks ago, after doctors said she was suffering hallucinations, depression and had lost a significant amount of weight. In the past three months Corby's father and stepfather have passed away and she lost her final appeal against her sentence.

After examining her, hospital doctors said Corby was "a danger to herself and others", placing her on anti-depressants and a therapy program.