It is no surprise that energy company AGL has resisted the strong arm tactics employed by the federal government to force it to keep its Liddell coal-fired plant open beyond its 2022 use by date or sell it to someone who will.

On Wednesday AGL further entrenched its position of closing the plant and pushing its plans to replace the capacity lost when the plant closes by enlisting the support of its shareholders at the company's annual meeting.

In previous well-reported attempts by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg to coerce AGL's chief executive Andy Vesey into submission, there at least appeared a small possibility that the company was open to some negotiation on the issue. Vesey had promised to take the government's proposal to the AGL board.

On Wednesday the full board was sitting on the podium with Vesey and the chairman, Jerry Maycock, as the two outlined to shareholders the pitfalls of Turnbull's plans to keep Liddell on life support even as the nuts and bolts were falling off and the plant's reliability was significantly compromised.