After a lacklustre start to Indonesia's presidential debates last month, the second round began on a more heated note.

Key points: Using his incumbency advantage, Joko Widodo was praised for "mastering the topics"

Using his incumbency advantage, Joko Widodo was praised for "mastering the topics" Prabowo Subianto gained a positive response acknowledging Mr Widodo's achievements

Prabowo Subianto gained a positive response acknowledging Mr Widodo's achievements An explosion was heard at the venue where people gathered to watch the debate on live TV

President Joko Widodo and Opposition Leader Prabowo Subianto took to the stage alone on Sunday night, this time without their vice-presidential candidates.

Just minutes after the debate began, two explosions were heard about 650 metres from the debate venue — but police said there were no casualties and local media reported the blasts were the result of firecrackers.

Last month, Indonesians were disappointed with the first debate, which focused on law and human rights, with some even suggesting the speakers showed less skill than high school debaters.

This time, the country's general election commission didn't provide questions in advance, a factor that may have lifted the monotony of last month.

Netizens said the debate was far more exciting and livelier, with users commenting on "stronger arguments" from both candidates.

The theme of this second debate was infrastructure, energy, agriculture, food, and environment.

The candidates focused heavily on numbers and statistics, sending national media racing to release the quoted figures in infographics.

Social media users circulated the infographics to attack their opponents sending the presidential debate hashtag #DebatPilpres2019 trending on Twitter.

But it was images of unicorns that soon dominated, after a brief confusion between the opponents over "unicorn industries".

Unicorns become unofficial symbol of debate

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During the debate, Mr Widodo asked his opponent about his strategy in building infrastructure to support the emerging "unicorn" industry in Indonesia.

The term refers to a tech start up company that reaches US$1 billion ($1.4 billion) in market value.

Indonesia currently has four "unicorns" and is expected to have more than five by 2019.

Unsure about Mr Widodo's question, Mr Subianto asked, "you mean … [that] online … online unicorn?"

The confusion was met with laughter during the live debate, and Indonesian netizens were quick to come up with various unicorn memes.

Some showed the candidates riding unicorns together, while in other images the two competitors appeared as flying unicorns.

Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto criticised the President's reliance on food imports and said the country needed to be self-sufficient. ( AP: Achmad Ibrahim )

Different styles of leadership

The President appeared casual, with a white shirt, black chinos and black and white sneakers, while Mr Subianto wore a full suit and peci — a traditional cap commonly worn by Muslim men.

Sonny Muchlison, a fashion and style observer in Jakarta, said the President looked "humble and down to earth", while the Opposition leader looked "stylish and full of confidence".

Mr Subianto stuck to what he titled his "nationalistic and patriotic profile".

"We have to stand on our own, we must be self-sufficient in food, energy, and water," said Mr Subianto at the opening of his speech.

Mr Subianto went on to acknowledge achievements under Mr Widodo's leadership, a move that won him praise for his "honesty".

Experts commenting on the live television screening said Mr Widodo showed more vigour and better preparation, using his incumbency to his advantage.

Opposing views on agriculture

Joko Widodo defended his Government's performance on infrastructure and agriculture. ( AP: Achmad Ibrahim )

Assyifa Szami Ilman, a researcher from the Centre for Indonesian Policy Studies, said it has been clear since the beginning that both candidates have different approaches to resolving the country's agriculture and food issues.

During the era of former president Suharto — who was Mr Subianto's father-in-law — Indonesia was pegged as an agricultural country, but Mr Ilman said the island nation has always held more maritime resources.

"The misleading narration has resulted in a greater expectation that we have to source our food as an agricultural country," Mr Ilman told the ABC.

"This is a misconception, since 70 per cent of our territory is surrounded by ocean, so we have more water than land."

Five years' experience as president has taught Mr Widodo that "it is impossible for Indonesia to be agriculturally self-sufficient", Mr Ilman said.

Indonesia imports several agricultural crops, including staples such as rice, corn, and soybean.

Speaking to ABC before the debate, Mr Ilman correctly predicted that Mr Subianto would use the Government's import policy to attack Mr Widodo.

"I want [to] ask Mr Widodo, as president, on various occasions you said you would not import food commodities," Mr Subianto said.

"It turned out that in the last four years you did a lot of importing … we have all the data. Honestly, from what we've heard it really hit the farmers."

Mr Widodo said the reason for the imports was to ensure Indonesia's food supplies were fully stocked.

"Mr Widodo's approach is more about food security," Mr Ilman said. "It doesn't matter whether the food is sourced locally or imported, as long it feeds the people."

Turning to infrastructure, Mr Widodo said under his leadership more than 600 kilometres of the toll road known as the "Trans Jawa" has been built on the main island of Java.

But Mr Subianto hit back by saying Mr Widodo's team did not work efficiently and many of the Government's projects were done without a proper feasibility study.

Explosions cause brief scare during debate

Police said the explosion came from firecrackers and there were no casualties from the incident. ( AP: Achmad Ibrahim )

Outside the debate, security officials were kept busy investigating two explosions reported near Hotel Sultan, Jakarta, where the presidential debate took place.

Antara, the Indonesia's news agency, reported two explosions were heard from the east side of Bung Karno stadium — less than a kilometre from the hotel — minutes after the debate started.

Mr Widodo's supporters had gathered at this venue to watch the live debate on the big screen.

Local TV stations reported that the explosions came from firecrackers and police said there were no casualties.

The National Campaign Team of Mr Widodo said they regretted the incident.

"This explosion incident must be thoroughly investigated," said Maman Imanulhaq from the campaign team, as quoted by Antara News.