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Supporters, friends and relatives of journalist Jamal Khashoggi on Thursday held a candlelight vigil outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to demand justice for his barbaric murder.

They chose the consulate, where the 59-year-old Washington Post contributor was killed on 2 October, to hold the first gathering of the newly-formed Jamal Khashoggi Friends Association.

"From this place where Jamal lost his life, we clearly state that we will not accept compromises in the case of his murder," said a statement from the group, read by Ayman Nour, the Egyptian chief of opposition broadcaster El-Sharq.

"We will follow all legitimate means to achieve full justice for Jamal, so as not to wake up to another murdered journalist," the statement said.

The murder has sparked an international crisis for Saudi Arabia, whose official narrative changed again on Thursday, when a Saudi public prosecutor admitted the murder appeared to have been premeditated.

After first insisting Khashoggi left the consulate unharmed, Saudi authorities said he was killed in an argument that degenerated into a brawl, then admitted he was murdered before finally accepting what Turkey had said earlier - that he was killed in a premeditated hit.

"Every day more truth is revealed related to the murder," the Jamal Khashoggi Friends Association said. 

During the vigil, a friend of Khashoggi and advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Yasin Aktay, said that "no one can sweep this affair under the rug".

"I could not save Jamal," he said, adding that the murder was a "barbaric act... unthinkable in the 21st century".

"The current scandal must make them regret the moment when the idea (of the murder) came to their minds."