Australia's closing press conference for the G20 Summit in St Petersburg has been cancelled even though we're taking over the presidency of the group for 2014.
Other leaders addressed the world's media at the end of the two-day summit in St Petersburg but Foreign Minister Bob Carr initially delayed and then cancelled his appearance.
Puzzled foreign journalists were left to ask Australian reporters whether Senator Carr would be talking at any point.
A spokesman for the minister later justified the decision not to hold an official media briefing by stating: "Australia is represented in the joint statement issued at the end of the conference."
Australia was criticised earlier in the week for sending Senator Carr to Russia instead of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who has been campaigning ahead of Saturday's election.
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Apart from taking charge of the G20 from December, Australia is currently the temporary president of the UN Security Council.
The G20 helps set the global economic agenda but this year's summit was dominated by debate over how best to handle the ongoing crisis in Syria.
Russia and China have used their veto power on the council to defeat resolutions that would have put pressure on President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Washington has accused Moscow of holding the UN Security Council "hostage" by blocking action on Syria following its alleged use of chemical weapons during an attack on a Damascus suburb just over a fortnight ago.
President Barack Obama on Friday said the US had to act outside the UN because the international community was "stuck" with the security council "in paralysis".
Mr Obama insisted that failing to respond to Syria's use of chemical warfare would send a signal to rogue nations that they could use weapons of mass destruction "and not pay a consequence".
The US president said a limited and proportional strike could meaningfully degrade Assad's ability to deploy chemical weapons.
The "majority" of G20 leaders believed the Assad government was behind the recent chemical attack against its own people, Mr Obama said in his closing press conference.
"(But) there are a number of countries that, just as a matter of principle, believe that if military action is to be taken it needs to go through the UN Security Council."
Senator Carr on Friday denied Australia was too quick to back a US-led strike against Syria as Mr Obama struggled to persuade other world leaders to support punitive military action.
"The position we adopted was correct," the foreign minister told AAP before the second working meeting.
"If the world doesn't respond in a way that's appropriate and proportionate, then other dictators will think they can gas children."
Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated in his closing press conference it would be "outside the law" for the US to attack without the UN's blessing.
"We spoke sitting down ... it was a constructive, meaningful, cordial conversation," the president said after his unscheduled talks with Mr Obama on the summit's sidelines.
"(But) each of us kept with our own opinion."
There have been calls for the UN to speed up publication of a report by its inspectors on the suspected chemical weapon attack.
Mr Obama argues that after its release Mr Putin will struggle to maintain his position there is no evidence the Syrian regime was behind the attack.
The split among leaders was symbolised in a statement supported by 11 states at the G20 calling for an unspecified "strong international response".
"We support efforts undertaken by the US and other countries to reinforce the prohibition on the use of chemical weapons," the countries, including Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and Australia, said.
Only France has vowed to actually join an American intervention.
Most EU nations, along with emerging powers Brazil and India, and others, are reticent about resorting to military action without a mandate from the UN.
