Malcolm Turnbull won't say whether he raised the US refugee resettlement deal during a half-hour rendezvous with President Donald Trump in Manila overnight.
The prime minister, who is in the Philippines capital for the East Asia summit, had one-on-one time with Mr Trump in his presidential suite.
There were no officials in the room during the meeting which went for more than 30 minutes.
"We decided we would sit down and have a very frank discussion as we do, we have a very good relationship, very frank relationship as you can see," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Manila on Tuesday.
Terrorism, the fight against Islamic State militants in the Middle East and closer to home dominated the conversation.
Mr Turnbull would not be drawn on whether he raised the prospects of speeding up the US refugee resettlement deal.
A standoff at the mothballed Manus Island detention centre continues with hundreds of barricaded refugees and asylum seekers refusing to leave.
The refugee deal was a major flashpoint between the two leaders during their notoriously heated phone call in January.
Mr Trump reluctantly agreed honour the deal, struck by the previous Obama administration, to resettle up to 1250 refugees.
Only 54 have gone to America so far.
"The US resettlement program is progressing, so that is all happening," Mr Turnbull said.
Mr Turnbull recently rejected a New Zealand offer to accept 150 people to focus on the US deal.
He urged the refugees to comply with Papua New Guinea's laws by leaving the naval base compound and move to alternative accommodation.
Mr Turnbull also had talks with the US National Security Adviser General HR McMaster.
Mr Turnbull on Tuesday had a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during which the pair talked about reviving a four-nation security forum.
The forum is widely viewed as a way to counter growing Chinese influence and diplomats from Australia, the US, India and Japan met on Sunday.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd pulled out of the arrangement in 2008 because he was worried about upsetting Beijing.
"The reality is we have lots of security on our agenda ... the world is a pretty small place nowadays and you have to work closely together," Mr Turnbull said, while playing down criticism from Beijing.
A spokesman for the Chinese forum ministry said the government had taken note of the development.
"We hope that the policies and actions of relevant parties would correspond with the trend of the times that calls for peace, development, friendship and co-operation, and serve to maintain and promote regional peace, stability and prosperity," he said.
Mr Turnbull was also due to meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on the sidelines of the summit.
Later on Tuesday Mr Turnbull will also get together with leaders from the 15 other countries negotiating a China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free trade pact for a first time meeting.
Meanwhile, Mr Turnbull kept the door open on ramping up Australian assistance to the Philippines fight against Islamic extremism.
He witnessed Australian-trained Filipino soldiers, fresh from fighter an Islamic State insurgency at Marawi in the country's south, being put through their paces in an urban warfare drill on Monday afternoon.
Eighty Australian Army personnel are training jungle fighters to handle urban combat and Australia also provided some surveillance aircraft.
The Philippines government characterised Australia's assistance as a "game changer".
"We don't have plans to add to that commitment at that stage, but believe me, we recognise that in this region, we need to be prepared to give assistance and if necessary more assistance to ensure we keep Islamic State out of the region," Mr Turnbull said.
The prime minister is due home on Wednesday morning in time for the announcement on the same-sex marriage postal survey result.
He also travelled to Vietnam for the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation leaders summit and visited Hong Kong.
