Newly appointed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said he sympathises with how deposed leader Tony Abbott must be feeling.

In a televised interview on Monday morning, Mr Turnbull said his own ousting at the hands of Abbott in 2009 was a “dark” experience.

“It is a dark, black experience,” he told Seven Network’s Sunrise program.

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“It is awful, that sense of rejection.

“I’m one of the few people with insight into how he feels.”

After losing the Liberal leadership, Mr Turnbull considered quitting politics. Six years later, he toppled Abbott to seize the prime ministership, 54 votes to 44.

The night of the spill, Mr Abbott reportedly dealt with his grief by drinking with his staffers in the PM’s office, according to various reports by News Corp and Fairfax Media.

Meanwhile, Mr Turnbull has laughed off suggestions he and wife Lucy could be the Australian version of House of Cards couple, the Underwoods.

“I have nothing in common with Frank Underwood other than we both use a rowing machine,” he said during the same interview with Seven Network.

Frank and Claire Underwood are power-hungry fictional characters in a top rating political television drama who plot, scheme — and even murder — to attain the US presidency.

In another interview on Monday morning, Mr Turnbull denied he had struck a pact of prime ministerial succession with his Treasurer Scott Morrison.

He was asked on Monday whether there was a so-called Kirribilli agreement — a reference to the 1988 deal done between Bob Hawke and his then treasurer Paul Keating.

“Scott will do a great job as treasurer and that’s what we’re focused on,” Mr Turnbull told ABC radio.

— with AAP