An Australian air strike on an ISIL target in Iraq was cancelled to avoid harming civilians, the Australian Defence Force has confirmed.

According to Defence chiefs, Australian Super Hornets were tracking a moving target when it entered a populated civilian area.

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In a media briefing on Wednesday, Vice Admiral David Johnston, Chief of Joint Operations, said the Hornet team invoked the “red card” cancellation system when the target area became too densely populated.

“One of our [Super Hornet] packages on the first night … had an identified target which it was tracking and that particular target moved into an urban area where the risks of conducting a strike on that target increased to a point where it exceeded our expectations of collateral damage, so they discontinued the attack at that point,” Admiral Johnston said.

Admiral Johnston added that Australian operations had limited the movement of ISIL militants, but they were concentrating in urban areas, causing logistical problems.

“Elements of them are moving into built up areas and that clearly brings a different collateral damage issue with it that we have to manage,” he said.

Chief of the Defence Force Mark Binskin said it was not unusual for ISIL militants to hide in urban areas to protect themselves from a threat from above.

Air Chief Marshal Binskin said it was evidence that the US-led airstrikes were having an effect.

“Air stops forces like ISIL massing on the battlefield and taking ground and having freedom to manoeuvre,” Air Chief Marshal Binskin said.