Australia has announced it is prepared to participate in future air strikes against Islamic State jihadists in Iraq as part of a coalition of like-minded countries.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Defence Minister David Johnston met with their counterparts from the United States, the United Kingdom and other western countries on Friday at the NATO summit in Wales.
Ms Bishop said leaders discussed a range of options to combat the scourge of Islamic State - also known as ISIL - in Iraq.
"The countries that have expressed a willingness to tackle ISIL head on have also looked at what more can be done in terms of air strikes and Australia will respond when a formal request is made," Ms Bishop told reporters at Celtic Manor golf resort in Newport.
"The red line is combat troops on the ground. There is no interest from any country present to commit combat troops.
"But there is much that can be done to combat ISIL in other ways and Australia is prepared to play its part in combating ISIL because it is a direct domestic security threat to Australia."
The Australian foreign minister said the leaders discussed the need to work closely with an inclusive Iraq government, provide humanitarian relief "as well as supporting a US-led coalition that will seek to tackle ISIL head on".
Ms Bishop said while US air strikes to date had had a significant impact, more needed to be done to stop ISIL expanding beyond the region.
However, she stressed Canberra was yet to receive an official request for combat assistance.
Friday's meeting on the sidelines of the NATO summit was led by the US and the United Kingdom with foreign and defence secretaries from like-minded countries, including Australia, attending.
Mr Johnston on Friday stressed "we are still at an extremely early stage".
"We are some distance from specific requests for an operation set out and designed such that the government can make a firm consideration," the defence minister told reporters.
"But naturally in the face of this tantamount genocide from this organisation the Australian Defence Force (ADF) starts to be ready."
Defence Force Chief Mark Binskin has said either the RAAF's large fleet of older classic Hornet fighter bombers or its 24 Super Hornets could operate in Iraq.
But Mr Johnston insisted there were numerous capabilities the ADF could contribute.
"Let's see what the combined coalition wants to do, let's see who's in the coalition, let's see the inclusiveness of the government in Baghdad and let's consult with our friends and allies before we begin speculating what particular platforms Australia will contribute," he said.
"This is a very serious matter of committing young Australians to deal with an extremely dangerous organisation."
Ms Bishop said a number of further meetings to discuss the coalition's task were scheduled for the "coming weeks".
But the foreign minister declined to detail which specific countries were part of what she called the like-minded coalition "until more information as to who has committed what is able to be made public".
Friday's talks brought together ministers from 10 countries: Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Turkey and the United States.
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