The nation's spy chief says the possibility of copycat attacks in the wake of Paris can't be ruled out.
And the foreign minister has backed his comments, saying there are no guarantees a terrorist attack won't happen in Australia.
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation director general Duncan Lewis says there's no specific information of any Paris-style attacks being planned for Australia but there are "no guarantees".
"There is no way in the world that we are able to say there is no possibility of an attack in Australia," Mr Lewis told ABC TV on Monday.
"We're always conscious that there's a possibility of copycat attacks."
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told reporters in Manila the government was unable to guarantee there would be no attacks on home soil.
"We cannot guarantee that a terrorist attack will not happen in Australia, and in fact we have thwarted a number of proposed attacks," she said.
However, the government would continue to do all it could to keep Australians safe.
"We cannot succumb to the fear that the terrorist organisations thrive upon."
Mr Lewis said ASIO currently had around 400 high-priority cases.
Security authorities had managed to thwart six attempted attacks on Australian soil, but there had been three fatal ones in the past 12 months, Mr Lewis said.
That represented just over two-thirds of the attacks or planned attacks in Australia over the past 15 years.
Mr Lewis said Australia's security threat level would remain at high - meaning an attack was likely - but would not be elevated given there was no information suggesting an imminent threat of attack at present.
He denied any link between terror threats and Australia's military involvement in the Middle East, saying the nation had been a terrorist target long before that.
He said Australians needed to remain resolute and go about their normal business.
"To do otherwise would be to give in to this threat," he said.
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