"The choice that my colleagues will make on Monday is about who should be prime minister of this nation," Ms Gillard told reporters in Adelaide on Friday.
"It is a choice about who's got the strength, the temperament, the character, the courage, to lead this nation, who's got the ability to get things done even in the face of adversity.
"This is not an episode of Celebrity Big Brother, this is about who should be prime minister."
Ms Gillard said as prime minister she got through big reforms that "languished" under Kevin Rudd.
Speaking shortly after Mr Rudd gave a press conference in Brisbane, Ms Gillard said she had spoken with a "large number" of colleagues over the last 24 hours.
"They are going to come to Monday's caucus meeting exercising their best judgment about who should be prime minister and who should lead this nation for the future," she said.
Pre-selections should not come into it, Ms Gillard added.
"This should be about people coming to Monday's caucus meeting making the determination as to who's got the strength and ability to do the job of leading this nation."
Ms Gillard did not not take questions, saying she would be addressing the media again on Friday afternoon.
