"We got a message that no one was there. Then we got a message that everyone was there, so we rushed in as quickly as we could," Mr Abbott explained on Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin notes Prime Minister Tony Abbott's late arrival to an APEC meeting. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The prime minister entered the room as Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was giving his opening address.

Mr Abbott was seated next to Mr Putin, but a senior official attached to another APEC nation's delegation, who was present at the meeting, said the Russian leader was frosty.

"There was no engagement, no acknowledgement, an iron curtain," the official said.