The future of a multi-billion-dollar gas project still hangs in the balance following high-level talks between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his East Timor counterpart Taur Matan Ruak.
The Timorese prime minister visited Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, where he met Mr Albanese as part of a three-day trip.
The location of the processing hub for the Greater Sunrise gas fields project has been the subject of years of dispute.
The Timorese government wants the gas piped to a site on its southern coast, while Australian energy company Woodside, which controls a third of the project, wants it sent to an established hub in Darwin.
Mr Albanese said the two leaders discussed the project as well as defence, economic cooperation and regional security.
"We know that important projects including the Greater Sunrise project that we discussed today ... (is) important for the future development of Timor-Leste," he told parliament.
"Timor-Leste has a lot of friends in Australia."
The prime minister said he had discussed the project with Woodside during a visit to Perth last week.
Getting the project up and running is considered critical to East Timor's development and its resilience in the face of increasing tensions in the Pacific.
To find a solution to the stalemate, the government appointed former Victorian premier Steve Bracks as Australia's special representative for the project.
The Sunrise Joint Venture (SJV) said on Monday it would consider key issues for delivering the gas, for processing and liquefied natural gas sales to East Timor compared to piping it to Darwin.
The studies will incorporate and update previous work with the latest technologies and cost estimates, while also considering social, environmental, strategic and security benefits of the various options.
The Sunrise development, about 450km northwest of Darwin and 150km south of East Timor, comprises the Sunrise and Troubadour gas and condensate fields.
The fields contain an estimated resource 5.3 trillion cubic feet of dry gas and 226 million barrels of condensate.
