Tony Abbott says he's urged fellow coalition MPs not to pressure or heavy the three independent MPs.
But he says he can't stop mates talking to mates.
His comments follow reports that Liberal MP Alby Schultz had threatened independent Tony Windsor, telling him to pull his head in and support the coalition.
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Mr Abbott said Mr Schultz regarded himself as a pretty good friend of the three independents as he had known them for a long time.
"We have some very robust independent-minded members of the coalition and Albie is certainly one of them," he told ABC television on Sunday morning.
"But the point I keep making is that everyone has got to be treated with respect. No one should be pressured or heavied and that is the counsel I am giving to everyone.
"I can't stop mates talking to mates but I say that it should all be done with respect."
Mr Abbott said the bottom line was that the election produced 500,000 more votes for the coalition than for Labor.
"And under those circumstances it defies commonsense that a corrupted Labor should be put back into power," he said.
"The last thing we should see is this election putting back into power the same kind of faceless powerbrokers that have been utterly discredited and rightly discredited by this election result."
Mr Abbott said the independents and coalition MPs were representing rural Australians who quite understandably felt neglected by city-centric politicians and Labor.
He said the independents and coalition were essentially speaking the same language, and the coalition was well placed to respond to those concerns.
With the election producing a hung parliament, the government will be formed by whichever side gains most support from the six crossbench MPs.
Three of the independents were once National Party members, but there are tensions between them and their former party.
Mr Abbott said the three rural independents were all adults and patriots who wanted to see the best possible deal for the nation and particularly for regional Australia.
"I think the coalition can deliver that," he said.
"We are far better placed to respond to the discontents of rural Australia than the Labor Party."
Mr Abbott said the three rural independents would sit down with coalition shadow ministers this week to thrash out various policy issues.
He refused to speculate on the prospect of him becoming prime minister by week's end.
"If what the rural independents want is a better deal for regional Australia, they are far more likely to get that from the coalition than from the Labor Party," he said.
"I think I have the necessary capacity to bring something positive out of this. We should look at what's happened as an opportunity rather than a problem or a crisis."
