Government spokesman Agus Barnas said Mr Abbott's blunt comments in Davos about sovereignty ''will only worsen the prospects'' of trying to normalise relations. ''It may be [that Prime Minister Abbott is deliberately making inflammatory statements] because he's tied to his campaign promises,'' said Mr Agus, the spokesman for co-ordinating security minister Djoko Suyanto. ''Maybe he is also receiving big pressure domestically, but turning back boats is not the answer, because that only benefits one party, namely Australia.'' President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's special adviser for political affairs, Daniel Sparringa, agreed Mr Abbott was being deliberately provocative. "He has done more damage than good. Such a pity." Mr Agus saw only one way to restore the Australia-Indonesia relationship: ''Just stop sending boats back … just focus on the road map [developed after the spying scandal] and stop producing statements that can worsen the situation''.

Mr Abbott, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and Deputy Prime Minister Julie Bishop have all been adamant they will continue to turn boats back to Indonesia, despite its concerns. Ms Bishop confirmed the stance again yesterday. Shadow treasurer Chris Bown said on Friday that the plunge in Australia's relationship with Indonesia was ''very serious''. In an interview with ABC radio, Mr Bowen said the Indonesia government had been warning ''for a long, long time'' that it would not accept the Abbott government's policy of towing asylum seeker boats back to Indonesian waters. ''Well before the election, Tony Abbott, Scott Morrison and Julie Bishop had plenty of warning that this would be the inevitable result of their pig-headed policy,'' Mr Bowen said. ''I remember Kevin Rudd warning of this and the Liberal Party laughing that off and saying it'd be alright . . . [that] we should just trust them to implement it in office.''

The Jakarta Post suggested Indonesia was arraying its naval and air hardware against Australia. It quoted Air Commodore Hadi Tjajanto as saying: ''If we notice any border violation, Makassar will be ready. Australia is reachable from there'' by war planes. But he told Fairfax Media: ''It's our routine monitoring of national air space. Nothing is extraordinary … no extra orders, and we have received no significant report of any air space violation''. The newspaper quoted navy Commodore Untung Surapati saying craft had been moved south to the maritime border with Australia. But Lieutenant Colonel Yayan Sugiana, spokesman for the navy's eastern fleet charged with patrolling south of Indonesia, said his group had no special orders and had deployed no extra ships. ''To my knowledge there is nothing extraordinary in terms of our patrolling of the border,'' he said.

Asked about fears that rising tensions may lead to armed conflict, Mr Djoko's spokesman, Agus Barnas said: ''Oh no, it's very far away''. Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Natalie Sambhi said naval deployments ''should not be seen as threatening to Australia''. ''They should be understood as part of the ordinary course of Indonesian politics responding to public sensitivities on matters of sovereignty.'' In Davos overnight, Indonesian foreign minister minister Marty Natalegawa was asked if the two countries were on a war footing. ''No, not really,'' he said.

Despite the current ''difficult patch'', the two countries had a good overall relationship. On operational matters regarding ships and radars he would not comment, but said: ''Post the revelations about the violation of our borders … there was an indication that we will strengthen our border protection.'' Loading ''It's not an unfriendly act to anyone, it's just a country that is keen to ensure that our sovereign border is properly protected,'' he said. Follow us on Twitter