(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)
The meeting, which was held in secret in the presence of the army, navy and air force commanders, followed an eruption of violence in the Thai capital over the weekend.
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Any hope that the meeting between protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra would lead to a political solution to the sometimes violent protests seem to have been dashed in a televised speech by Mr Thaugsuban.
"There is no negotiation offer to the government. Whether the government of Yingluck Shinawatra accepts our conditions or not is up to them."
About 30,000 protesters launched what they described as a "people's coup" on Thailand's government on Sunday, approaching state agencies in violent clashes, taking control of a state broadcaster and forcing the prime minister to flee a police compound.
But after a day of skirmishes between protesters hurling stones and petrol bombs against riot police who were firing back with teargas, the demonstrators failed to breach heavily barricaded Government House, the office of the Prime Minister.
Hundreds of people continued their protest at Government House into the night, but police repelled them by firing rounds of tear gas and, at times, water cannon.
Through the clashes, protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban was defiant in his attempts to present himself as an alternative prime minister, even declaring holidays.
"In order to continue the people's operation and eliminate Thaksin's regime, the People's Democratic Reform Committee would like to announce that Monday, December 2nd, is a holiday for the government sector. Every broadcaster should broadcast news about the People's Democratic Reform Committee and report only the true situation to the people."
Research fellow with the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australia National University Nicholas Farrelly says Thailand is known for its occasional spikes in political unrest.
But he says there's always the potential for a dispute like the current one to spiral out of control.
And this current crisis has been given impetus by an amnesty bill proposed by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government that would absolve her brother Thaksin Shinawatra of his crimes, something many of his opponents were not willing to accept.
"There has over the weekend been some incidents of quite significant violence on the streets of Bangkok between supporters of deposed former prime minister Thaksin and those on the other hand who are hoping to keep him out of a more active role in the country's politics. The thing is now a tinderbox. It's difficult to imagine a more precarious situation. It might be resolved but in the meantime, there will be some be some very anxious days and hours ahead."
Dr Farrelly says the amnesty bill would absolve people convicted or suspected of crimes during recent turbulent years of Thai politics.
It would open the door for a return of Thaksin, highly popular among his supporters, but derided by his opponents.
Critics say Yingluck Shinawatra is a puppet for her brother and Dr Farrelly says there's no doubt she operates as a proxy for her older brother.
He says in the 2011 campaign her Pheu Thai party openly promoted that a vote for Yingluck would be a vote for Thaksin.
Dr Farrelly says that's attractive for many voters who like the idea of the Thaksin era being rekindled through his sister.
"It's difficult of course, for many of Thaksin and Yingluck's opponents to accept the realities of the electoral mathematics and the enduring popularity of Thaksin, but I don't think there's any doubt that if an election were to be held in the months ahead that the Yingluck government would have a very strong showing and could in fact under current circumstances be returned with an even larger majority. That's why those who are protesting against this government are so cautious about future elections. They don't have a good track record of winning them."
But one of the protesters determined to stop that happening was defiant.
"We'll keep fighting. We'll keep fighting until we finish because we've already put our hearts into it. If we don't fight now, our country will lose even more because we know this government is doing this country wrong in many ways."
