The much-anticipated sideline meeting between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Scott Morrison got off to a light-hearted start, with Trump congratulating Morrison on a "tremendous victory" in the federal election.
"He didn’t surprise me, but he surprised a lot of other people," Trump said.
"See, I knew him... They called it an upset, but I don’t call it an upset."
Trump then said he would be interested in attending the Presidents Cup in Melbourne later this year.
Asked by a reporter if he would go to the premier golfing event, the avid golfer said he wanted to but was noncommittal.
"I'll tell you what - I'd like to," he said. "It might not be easy, but I'd like to."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison met the President for a working dinner ahead of the G20 summit meeting in Osaka, Japan, where he offered Trump a "warm invitation" to the December golfing event.
"It’s going to be an important few days," Mr Morrison said.
"But there’s no better or stronger or deeper relationship than the United States and Australia."
Trump told the room the two countries had become good allies.
"We work with our allies. We take care of our allies," he said.
"So we do look at ourselves, and we look at ourselves, I think, more positively than ever before but we also look at our allies.
"And I think Australia is a good example. We’ve worked together very closely - just recently, on a big trade situation.
"We had a little bit of a trade deal going, and it worked out very well for both of us."
Mr Trump said he was proud of the US' partnership with Australia.
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