Prime Minister Tony Abbott has wound back his threat to "shirt-front" Vladimir Putin, instead predicting a "very robust conversation" with the Russian President at next month's G20 summit in Brisbane.

Mr Abbott said his program of bilateral meetings with world leaders was still being finalised, "but I certainly expect that while he's a guest of Australia, he will undertake to have a conversation with the Australian Prime Minister".

The comments came after Russia's second secretary at the embassy in Canberra, Alexander Odoevsky, said no formal bilateral meeting had been scheduled for the summit.

The Australian government appears to be holding out hope that Mr Putin will not attend the summit. Mr Abbott promised tough talk with the Russian leader "should he be here for the G20", in what appeared to be a diplomatic climb-down from his suggestion on Monday that "I'm going to shirt-front Mr Putin".