At least one country, possibly two, have pulled their ambassadors out of Indonesia after their citizens, who were convicted of drug offences, were executed by firing squad.

Indonesian attorney-general HM Prasetyo defended the country's decision to execute the six drug offenders yesterday.

He said the executions went well and again reiterated that Indonesia would not compromise on drugs.

It does not bode well for the two Australian ring leaders of the Bali Nine heroin smuggling group, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.

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Sukumaran's bid for clemency was rejected and Chan is waiting to learn the outcome of his clemency bid.

The pair's lawyer Julian McMahon said he was confident his clients' rehabilitation could work in their favour and he had not given up hope.

"I know one of the persons executed on the weekend had a good history of rehabilitation. The others I don't know, but there's almost certainly no one in the entire system remotely as clearly and powerfully effective in their rehabilitation as my two clients," Mr McMahon said.

"Our national leaders have very strong arguments to put in Indonesia on the basis of a long process of very well documented and internationally recognised rehabilitation and assistance to other prisoners. So that's a powerful and compelling argument.

"It's an argument that their rule of law welcomes and it should open the door wider to see if we can get somewhere."

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the Government continued to "make representations at the very highest level" for clemency for the Australians.

"The Prime Minister has written again to the Indonesian president with my counterpart the foreign minister," Ms Bishop said.

"At this point the foreign minister has rejected my pleas on their behalf but we will continue to do all we can.

"I met with the families on the weekend and I assured them that we would continue to make representations."

Mr Prasetyo confirmed at a press conference that six prisoners were shot dead between midnight and 1:00am Sunday.

"All legal rights of the inmates had been fulfilled through a long process. This shows that we never take this lightly, handling the case of death penalties," he said.

"This is a form of a firm act by the Indonesian government, that we would never compromise with drug syndicates, dealers, and distributors‎."

In accordance with the Indonesian law that outlines the execution procedures, the prisoners would have worn white clothes and been tied to a pole.

A doctor would have marked the position of their heart, and a 12-person firing squad would have been ordered to shoot on command.

Among those executed yesterday were a Brazilian and a Dutch citizen.

The Netherlands reportedly warned Indonesia that going ahead with the executions would strain relations, and there were reports that Holland and Brazil had recalled their ambassadors.

Indonesia's foreign ministry said it only had formal notification that Brazil's ambassador was called back.

"I hope the public would understand, and it's time for us, including families, to see this as our responsibility, and let each of us prevent the wide spread of drug abuse," Mr Prasetyo said.

"A drug case is an extraordinary crime, hence we have to handle it extraordinarily. Indonesia has to be saved from the danger of drugs.

"Some of us do not believe that this act is necessary‎, but I believe time will tell that what we did is not wrong, it is entirely right."

Foreign pressure over the issue seems to be having little effect on this new government's determination to be harsh on drug offences.