Prime Minister Tony Abbott continues to plead for the lives of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, describing them as a force for good in the fight against drugs.

The two Bali Nine ringleaders are in isolation on the Indonesian penal island of Nusakambangan, awaiting the outcome of legal appeals against their execution.

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Mr Abbott is waiting to hear whether his request to speak again to Indonesian president Joko Widodo about the fate of the two Australians will be accepted.

“I appreciate that we have given this subject a pretty good thrash,” he told reporters in Kalgoorlie on Tuesday.

“I’m keen to talk to him again but, in the end, I can request, he may or may not accept.”

Mr Abbott said Chan and Sukumaran had been a “force for good” in Indonesia’s fight against drugs, describing their rehabilitation as a credit to the country’s penal system.

Authorities are waiting for legal appeals to wrap up before before setting a date for execution.