Julia Gillard says she regrets giving Kevin Rudd "hope" that he had more time in the top job on the night that she deposed him as prime minister.

In an interview to promote her upcoming memoirs, the former prime minister tells Channel Nine that the time she replaced Mr Rudd as prime minister on June 23, 2010, was "very emotional".

Regret: Julia Gillard says she should not have fed Kevin Rudd hope on the night she deposed him as prime minister. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"If anything, the reputation I have from that night is one of political brutality," she says. "Actually, in the moment I was hesitant, a conversation went too long, I certainly fed [Mr Rudd] hope. I shouldn't have done that."

Mr Rudd has said that when Ms Gillard went to his office on the fateful night in 2010 to talk to him about his position as prime minister, she first agreed he could have more time to improve the government's standing in the polls – but then later returned to say that she was challenging him for the leadership.