Indonesia's president Joko Widodo has vowed he will not buckle to foreign pressure on the executions of two Australians, in his first comments since his telephone call with Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday.

According to the business newspaper Kontan, which interviewed Mr Joko on Friday, the Indonesian leader disputed Mr Abbott's observation that he was "carefully considering" his position on the killings of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, members of the so-called Bali nine.

'Our position is clear, our laws can't be interfered with," Kontan quoted Mr Joko in an online excerpt from a lengthier interview that ran in print..

The remark comes after Indonesian parliamentarians and nationalist commentators had urged Mr Joko to clarify what happened when he spoke to Mr Abbott.

Revealing the conversation on Thursday morning, the Australian prime minister cautioned against optimism but appeared to suggest Mr Joko, known as Jokowi, was reviewing his hardline stance.

"The President absolutely understands our position, absolutely understands our position and I think he is carefully considering Indonesia's position," he told reporters at Old Parliament House in Canberra.

Mr Abbott said he did not want to "raise hopes that might turn out to be dashed" and described the President as a "friend".

The Australian government has lobbied hard for Mr Joko to show clemency to the pair. Last week, Mr Abbott caused a firestorm of protest in Indonesia when he linked Australia's mercy plea with the $1 billion in aid provided after the Boxing Day tsunami.

Mr Abbott asked Indonesia to "reciprocate".

This was interpreted as a "threat" by Indonesia, even though Mr Abbott did not say that the aid would be withdrawn, or future aid cut.

Nonetheless, he clearly implied that Australian aid was conditional, an extremely offensive assertion in Indonesia, where 170,000 people died in the 2004 tsunami that devastated the province of Aceh.

It's time to pay you back @TonyAbbottMHR #CoinForAustralia #kendari #southeastcelebes @Yeah_ILoveKDI @kendari_online pic.twitter.com/IHTxTOVX53 — Novita Tandry (@novitatandry) February 21, 2015

It sparked a campaign among Indonesians to collect coins to send back to Australia, a symbolic effort to repay the aid.

On social media, Indonesians posted photos of the coins they had collected, using the hashtags #KoinuntukAustralia, #CoinforAustralia and #CoinforAbbott

Vice president Jusuf Kalla even suggested that the country was prepared to pay the money back.