Anthony Albanese says a special visit to his hotel by the Indonesian president shows the closeness between the two countries.

The Australian prime minister arrived in Jakarta on Wednesday on his first overseas visit since winning a landslide federal election.

The night before formal talks were held on Thursday, President Prabowo Subianto greeted Albanese at his accommodation.

The two leaders held informal discussions at the hotel, as Albanese seeks to strengthen their partnership during his visit.

“We had a really good chat about elections, about the state of the world, and it was…a great honour, and we certainly saw it as such,” he told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday.

“It said something about the depth of the relationship and the extent of the friendship and warm relationship between our two nations.”

The prime minister said defence partnerships, global security and trade would be the focus of formal discussions between the two leaders.

“We’re talking about further strengthening our defence ties, and also how we put our economic partnership, how we can build on that with investment,” he said.

“We’re building our capability and defence arrangements and security arrangements with countries like Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and other countries in our region.”

Reports emerged during the election campaign that Russia had requested to operate long-range military aircraft from an Indonesian base.

Albanese said every senior official in the Indonesian government had reassured their Australian counterparts it wasn’t happening.

“We make very clear our position when it comes to Russia around the world, be it the brutal invasion of Ukraine, its interference in cyber security issues as well, its tolerance of criminal organisations that have been involved in that, are an anathema to our values,” he said.

“We’ll continue to stand up for Australian values, and that is something that we’ll do, both domestically, but right around the world.”

The prime minister is travelling with Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke as part of the Australian delegation.

Security experts have warned Australia to heed Indonesia’s concerns about the AUKUS deal and growing US military presence in the region, which Jakarta viewed as increasing strategic competition.

The prime minister will fly to Rome after his trip to Jakarta to attend Pope Leo XIV’s inauguration mass on Sunday.

He will return to Australia next week, after he sits down with Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Tuesday.

-with AAP