The federal attorney-general has found support among the crossbench for his two proposed amendments to a bill that would legalise same-sex marriage.
Senators David Leyonhjelm and Derryn Hinch would support the proposals floated by George Brandis to extend exemptions to civil celebrants and protect the rights of those opposed to same-sex marriage.
"The idea that celebrants should be given the same protections and the same freedoms as ministers of the cloth, that's fair," Senator Hinch told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.
But as to the second proposal, he said, "to me, that was a sop to the Kevin Andrews brigade."
Lower house Liberal MP Kevin Andrews is one of numerous conservative MPs who seek greater religious protections and freedoms enshrined in legislation.
Senator Hinch was confident that Thursday's debate on same-sex marriage would progress further than people think.
"I think the conservatives ... I think they are, in retreat is too harsh a word, but I think they are understanding the vote was 61.6 per cent and it's over," he said.
The government has facilitated the passage of a private senator's bill drafted by West Australian Liberal Dean Smith.
Senator Leyonhjelm is drafting two or three of his own amendments, which he will drop if he is confident that Senator Brandis' proposals will suffice.
"People need to be able to hold a different point of view and not be hounded," Senator Leyonhjelm said.
He was less sanguine that debate would progress beyond the second reading of the bill. Debating amendments was unlikely to arise on Thursday, he said.
"It's actually going to get a bit boring after a while," he warned.
Labor has said it is not considering any amendments to the bill at this stage. They are reserving their response until they see the detail of Senator Brandis' amendments.
"Australians delivered a resounding message that they want to reduce discrimination in this country, not increase it," Labor senator Murray Watt said.
"So we will be casting a pretty sceptical eye over any amendments the government puts forward that goes against that."
Co-chair of the Equality Campaign Alex Greenwich said Senator Brandis' amendments seemed unnecessary.
"Our sole focus is on making sure legislation gets through this year. That will mean working to make sure that any amendments put forward are fair amendments," he said.
Campaign co-chair Anna Brown said the Smith bill represented the middle ground between marriage equality and religious protections.
"We had the most rigorous inquiry into marriage equality earlier this year and this bill reflects an unprecedented cross-party consensus," she said.
