INDONESIA is threatening to enforce a deadline set for tomorrow for the removal of 78 Sri Lankans refusing to get off the Oceanic Viking as a diplomatic row with Australia looms.

Australian officials will not budge from their insistence that the asylum seekers were picked up in Indonesian waters and therefore are Jakarta`s responsibility.

However, the Sri Lankans will not get off the Australian Customs boat now anchored off the Indonesian island of Bintan - and so far nobody has been prepared to force them.

`There is a limit,` Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said yesterday.

`On that particular issue it really depends very much on the progress Australia can make. You must resolve your problems on board the vessel.

`November 6 is our expectation for this to be resolved.`

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd disagreed and yesterday forcefully underlined Indonesia`s obligations under international maritime law.

Mr Rudd said the Oceanic Viking had responded to an Indonesian call for help and picked up the 78 Sri Lankans in Indonesian waters and taken them to the nearest Indonesian port.

`We adhere to normal processes and procedures when it comes to such matters,` Mr Rudd said.

`It`s the right and consistent approach to act in accordance with the principles of international maritime law and international maritime safety law.`

Sources in Australia yesterday said the Sri Lankans who don`t want to enter an Indonesian refugee camp would not be taken instead to Christmas Island, as this would encourage the belief among boat people that all they had to do to reach Australia was get to Indonesian waters.

However, the Government also believed it would be able to work with Indonesian leaders to stop boat people.

Meanwhile, the search for 11 missing asylum seekers 640km northwest off the Cocos Islands was called off yesterday after medical advice that it was highly unlikely they could have survived in the ocean since their boat capsized on Sunday.

Home Affairs Minister Brendan O`Connor said the 27 Sri Lankans recovered from the sea included a 15-year-old boy, but there was little hope for the others, who included boys aged 14 and 15.

`Medical advice received indicates that there is no further chance of survivability. This is a tragic incident,` Mr O`Connor said.

The survivors now on board the gas carrier LNG Pioneer are being taken to Christmas Island.