Indonesia's elite paramilitary police have held a training drill simulating the transfer of the two Bali nine death-row inmates, revealing it plans to use a team of 10 heavily armed officers for each prisoner.

The escalation of preparations comes as Indonesia's president Joko Widodo is refusing to confirm whether  – as Prime Minister Tony Abbott suggested on Thursday – he is "carefully considering" his position on the executions.

No date has yet been set for the death by firing squad of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

But it appears highly unlikely the transfer will happen this week, despite Indonesian authorities saying on Monday it was "very likely".

Many of the family members of the duo are returning to Australia after almost a month in Bali, but plan to "return soon", said Myuran's brother Chinthu.

Some will remain in Bali though, to continue to give comfort to the two men.

During the exercise, the heavily armed and masked police performed a mock transfer of two stand-ins onto and off a vehicle and then a bus, which stood in stead of a plane.

"We've anticipated everything. They will not be able to escape," said Commissioner Rudy Harianto, head of Bali Police Mobile Brigade, known as Brimob.

He said 20 Brimob personnel would be divided into two teams to secure the transfer of the two Australians, who were arrested for attempting to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin into Australia in 2005.

"We don't know when but we are ready at any given time," Commissioner Harianto said..

"We've been training since the end of January and we will continue training."

He insisted the police, rather than the military, would be in charge of security for the transfer, which would include blocking off streets en route to Denpasar airport.

However, the military will be involved, with a meeting to be held in the future to define the precise roles.

He declined to say whether Brimob's armoured Barracuda vehicles or the army's personnel carriers would be used to transfer the Australians.

"We can't provide details of the actual scenario," he said.

There seems to be a growing rivalry between the two arms of the security services as to which force will lead the operation.

The military, known as the TNI, has offered one of its transport planes to fly the men to Central Java but there is also a possibility that a police plane could be used.

Despite intense interest from the local and foreign media, Mr Joko has yet to clarify whether he was reviewing his decision to execute Chan and Sukumaran.

When reporters confronted him on Wednesday evening after he had spoken to Mr Abbott, Mr Joko confirmed that he had spoken to the Brazilian and French leaders about the imminent executions of their citizens.

But asked about whether he had spoken to Mr Abbott, Mr Joko enigmatically refused to answer and shrugged his shoulders.

Parliamentarians and nationalist commentators have expressed alarm in Indonesia that Mr Abbott's account of the conversation indicated a backdown by the Indonesian leader.

Cabinet Secretary Andi Widjajanto told the Jakarta Post he had no knowledge about the conversation between Mr Joko and Mr Abbott.

"I don't know. We stayed here [at the Presidential Office, where Mr Joko held a series of meetings from Wednesday afternoon until just before 9pm. The president ordered a short break but I do not know [whether the phone call occurred]".

In Cilacap, water police are patrolling the narrow strait that separates it from Nusamkambangan island, where the executions will take place.

Cilacap police spokesman Bintoro said that when five drug felons were executed on the island on January 18, journalists had attempted to illegally access the island – largely off limits to the public – on fishing boats.

"We want journalists not to violate regulations for the sake of security," Mr Bintoro said.

Visitors to the island were being searched, with those visiting prisoners – who include terrorists, white-collar criminals and drug dealers – getting special scrutiny.

Mr Bintoro said an extra platoon had been brought in for the executions last month.

He said the skills and psychological health of the executioners were excellent.

Additional police and the firing squad will again be brought in from Semarang in Central Java for the latest round of executions.

Mr Bintoro said Cilacap police were yet to receive orders from Central Java regarding the executions.