The Australian government is maintaining the responsibility for about 850 men in the Manus Island detention facility lies with the Papua New Guinea government.
The government is insisting there is no chance the men will be resettled in Australia.
Days after the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea ruled Australia's policy of detention on Manus Island was illegal, questions still remain over what will happen next.
With the centre set to close down, neither Australia nor P-N-G has agreed to take responsibility for the detainees.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said discussions are continuing.
But he insists that under a Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries, the onus is on PNG to respond to the court's finding.
Australian officials are travelling to PNG for emergency talks on the issue.
The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea has assured those who have been granted refugees status that they can resettle in PNG.
But Human Rights Watch's Australia Director, Elaine Pearson, says this shouldn't be PNG's problem.
The Australian government has suggested sending the men to an existing facility on Nauru, which has also been criticised for its treatment of detainees.
Just this week a 23-year-old Iranian man set himself on fire in Nauru, in protest over his detention.
There has also been speculation over the possibility of New Zealand as a resettlement destination but Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, downplayed the idea.
Lawyers for at least some of the detainees say they will file an application for compensation, which could runs into the hundreds-of-thousands of Australian dollars.
