Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is confident a draft text will be agreed to at protracted climate talks in Lima.
However, she says divisions over the responsibilities of developed and developing countries are unlikely to be resolved in this round of negotiations.
Talks on forging a UN pact to fight climate change have headed into an unscheduled 13th day, with finger-pointing about which countries should do the heavy lifting.
At stake is a draft negotiating text for a UN climate deal, expected to be sealed at Paris talks next year.
Ms Bishop, who last week attended the talks in Peru, said Australia's ambassador for the environment Peter Woolcott had informed her "things are looking optimistic" about the draft text.
But healing the rift over the roles of developing and developed countries would have to wait until further talks in February, she said.
"I don't think they'll be able to resolve that issue," she told Sky News on Sunday.
Ms Bishop has called on countries such as China and India to do more to curb emissions, and not use their developing status as an excuse not to act.
Since being categorised as "developing" in 1992, China had become the largest economy in the world, and the largest emitter, she said.
"To put China, for example, in the developing category doesn't reflect economic reality," she said.
"Australia's position, and that of many other countries, is that we need to relook at this divide between developing and developed and actually get rid of it, and look at countries' particular economic circumstances now."
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