Australian soldiers have been deployed to Iraq to beef up security at the embassy in Baghdad.
A spokesman for Defence Minister David Johnston on Friday confirmed that a small Australian Defence Force "liaison element" had been sent to Baghdad to bolster security arrangements at the embassy.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott alluded to the decision when voicing his concerns about the safety of Australian staff bunkered down inBaghdad.
He said nobody should underestimate the threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the terrorist group advancingtowards Baghdad after routing government forces in the north.
"Right now our focus is first of all ensuring that our people in
Baghdad are safe and that we have the capacity to remove them if necessary," Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney.
Australia began withdrawing its officials from the strife-torn country this week, leaving an "essential core" of embassy staff in place.
The federal government has warned there is little they can do to assist those Australians in Iraq, estimated at possibly more than 2000.
ISIL, also known as ISIS, stunned the world last week when it seized the major Iraqi cities of Mosul and Tikrit in a lightning offensive, sending government forces and civilians fleeing for safety.
It comes as the United States President Barack Obama says he is ready to send 300 military advisers to Iraq and, if necessary, take what he calls targeted action to counter militant forces there.
"Going forward, we will be prepared to take targeted and precise military action if and when we determine that the situation on the ground requires it," he said.
President Obama says the United States is ready to deploy advisers to study how to train and equip Iraqi forces and has already increased its intelligence capabilities in the country.
He says it is a good investment for the United States to intervene in Iraq if it prevents Islamic State of Iraq and Syria fighters from establishing bases that could threaten the West.
But he has repeatedly insisted in a speech this morning US troops will not go back into direct combat in Iraq two-and-a-half years after the last US soldier got home from the war.
"American forces will not be returning to combat in Iraq. But we will help Iraqis as they take the fight to terrorists who threaten the Iraqi people, the region and American interests as well."
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