Foreign Minister Stephen Smith says Sri Lanka's defeated Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka hasn't approached Australia for seeking asylum.
The former general has gone into hiding in Colombo, after warning of possible attempts on his life following his defeati n the country's first post-war election.
General Fonseka has said he will consider seeking temporary asylum in Australia, The Australian newspaper reported on Friday (AEDT).
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He told the newspaper he had spoken to the US and British embassies in Sri Lanka and also planned to speak to the Australian high commissioner about the possibility of temporary asylum.
But Mr Smith said officials from the Australian High Commission said there had been no approach made for asylum.
"My advice is that no such approach has been made so we're not in receipt of any such approach from General Fonseka," Mr Smith told reporters in London.
"I think it's very important that General Fonseka be provided with two things - that he be provided with freedom of movement and he be provided with security, personal security in the circumstances that he is in."
General Fonseka was stripped of his 80-strong state security team, which he said he needed to keep him safe.
He has told the AFP news agency that he has moved to a house in Colombo, after earlier saying he was unable to leave a hotel in the city because he would be arrested or assassinated.
President Mahinda Rajapakse, who swept back to a second term in Tuesday's election, on Thursday said his re-election was a riposte to critics of how he crushed separatists last year as General Fonseka vowed to overturn the result because of alleged polling fraud.
Asked if Australia would help General Fonseka, who has said he fears for his life, Mr Smith said he would not comment on hypothetical asylum situations.
"On matters of asylum and refugee protection, if that is what is indicated, I don't make comments or judgments in the hypothetical," he said.
"On my advice in the last half an hour no such approach has been made by General Fonseka to Australian officials in colombo in respect of those matters."
