Prime Minister Scott Morrison has been in contact with US President Donald Trump about an invitation to this year's Group of Seven nations meeting in the United States.
Mr Trump wants to invite Australia to the G7 summit - made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US.
It was unclear whether Mr Trump's desire to invite the additional countries was a bid to permanently expand the G7.
A spokesman for the Australian government said the G7 has been the topic of recent "high-level exchanges".
"Australia would welcome an official invitation," he said.
"Strengthening international cooperation among like-minded countries is valued at a time of unprecedented global challenges."
Mr Morrison attended the 2019 G7 summit as a guest of French President Emmanuel Macron.
Earlier, the US president told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida that he feels the current makeup of the group is "very outdated" and doesn't properly represent "what's going on in the world".
He said he had not yet set a new date for the meeting, but thought the gathering could take place in September, around the time of the annual meeting of the United Nations in New York, or perhaps after the US election in November.
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a videoconference on the conoravirus with G7 leaders at the Elysee Palace in Paris on 16 April 2020. Source: AAP
Alyssa Farah, White House director of strategic communications, said that Mr Trump wanted to bring in some of the country's traditional allies and those impacted by the coronavirus to discuss the future of China.
Mr Trump has attacked China over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, which began in China, and on Friday he ordered his administration to begin the process of in retaliation for China's decision to impose a new security law on the former British colony.
The decision to postpone the G7 summit is a retreat for Mr Trump, who had sought to host the group of major industrialised countries in Washington as a demonstration that the United States was returning to normal after the coronavirus epidemic, which has killed more than 103,000 Americans to date.
Mr Trump had cancelled an in-person G7 meeting scheduled for March as the virus spread, but had recently sought to revive it.
French President Emmanuel Macron backed the idea of an in-person meeting, according to the White House, but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to endorse it, saying there were too many health-related questions.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel became the first leader to decline the in-person invitation outright.
"Considering the overall pandemic situation, she cannot agree to her personal participation, to a journey to Washington," her spokesman said.
Her response followed ambivalent to vaguely positive reactions to the invitation from Britain and France.
The 65-year-old chancellor is the oldest G7 leader after Mr Trump, who is 73. Japan's Shinzo Abe, also 65, is several months younger than Mrs Merkel. Their age puts them at higher risk from the coronavirus.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel declined the invitation of an in-person summit. Source: Getty
South Korea is aware of Mr Trump's invitation and will discuss the matter with the United States, a government official in Seoul told Reuters on Sunday.
On several previous occasions, Mr Trump suggested Russia be added to the G7, given what he called the country's global strategic importance.
Russia was expelled from what was then the G8 in 2014 when Mr Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, was US president, after Russia annexed the Crimea region from Ukraine. Russia still holds the territory, and various G7 governments have rebuffed previous calls from Mr Trump to readmit Moscow.
