Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has considered a last-minute mercy dash to Indonesia to personally plead for the lives of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
But diplomats have talked her out of the move, advising it could do more harm than good.
"I'm told that if I flew to Jakarta at this time it could potentially be counterproductive - it could precipitate an unfavourable outcome," she told ABC radio on Monday.
"What we must do is continue to press behind the scenes. We must make representations to those who can make a difference."
Indonesian officials are expected to detail their plan to execute the drug smugglers when they meet with Australian embassy staff in Jakarta later on Monday.
Ms Bishop said the government had not given up hope for the pair.
Ms Bishop said Monday's meeting was another opportunity to press the case for Chan and Sukumaran, who were among nine Australians arrested in 2005 in Bali over a heroin trafficking plot.
Indonesia's foreign ministry has invited all embassies with citizens to be executed to the meeting, which could mean the executions will take place this week.
"Our message is that a decade on from their crimes these men are remorseful, they have been rehabilitated and this will be a grave injustice," Ms Bishop said.
"Indeed a wasted opportunity for Indonesia, because they will be able to demonstrate how successful their prison can be in rehabilitating drug traffickers."
With time running out, Australian diplomatic efforts to save the pair have intensified.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott made a personal appeal to Joko Widodo in a letter sent to the Indonesian president at the weekend.
The prime minister on Sunday also warned of a tough response if Indonesia goes ahead with the executions, without giving details.
But Mr Abbott said he did not want to turn relations with Indonesia over Chan and Sukumaran into a test of strength.
"Because if we do turn this into a test of strength, I think we are much more likely to back the Indonesians into a corner than to get the result we want," he told reporters in Sydney.
The prime minister said the government was "straining every fibre" in their efforts to save the pair.
"I don't want to peddle false hope but I do want everyone to understand that everything we can possibly do, we are doing," he said.
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