The shocking murder of a Jordanian pilot at the hands of Islamic State militants has prompted Prime Minister Tony Abbott to review Australia's emergency procedures should one of its own be captured.
In a highly choreographed 22-minute video released on Tuesday, airman Maaz al-Kassasbeh is seen wearing an orange jumpsuit surrounded by armed and masked jihadists before he appears inside a metal cage apparently soaked in petrol.
One of the jihadists lights a trail of flame that runs into the cage and burns him alive.
The 26-year-old Jordanian was captured by IS when his F-16 fighter plane went down in Syria in December.
Australian warplanes have also taken part in strikes against IS targets in Iraq.
Mr Abbott says he has discussed the issue with Chief of the Defence Force Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin.
"If one of our planes go down, there are emergency response procedures which I have talked through at great length with the chief of the defence force," he told Sky News on Thursday.
"I am confident, as confident as you can be in this imperfect world, that we could deal with it and we wouldn't find ourselves in that absolutely atrocious situation."
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