In contrast, Treasurer Joe Hockey who was once considered a possible Liberal leader but is now in danger of being dumped in favour of Scott Morrison in any change, is urging his colleagues to back Tony Abbott.

Ms Bishop, who a week ago was considered a leadership contender, is now shoring up her own position as Liberal Party deputy.  It was reported on Friday that cabinet rival Christopher Pyne has been phoning colleagues angling for the deputy position.

The pair appeared together at an early learning centre attached to the Adelaide school Ms Bishop once attended and brushed aside the reports.

"I've not been informed that the position of deputy is up for a spill motion, they are separate leadership contests between the leader and the deputy," she said.

Mr Pyne added: "Julie Bishop makes an outstanding deputy leader, I'm firmly of the view that Julie Bishop should remain as the deputy leader. She has made it perfectly clear that she is not challenging for the leadership, and I expect that she will remain in that job well into the future."

But when asked if she would advise her colleagues against launching an attempt to dislodge Mr Abbott, Ms Bishop declined.

"No, I don't have any advice for my colleagues because they are elected members of Parliament and they will take whatever action they see fit," she said.

"My message to the backbench is focus on teamwork, focus on what we can achieve as a united cohesive team.

"Tony Abbott is the leader of the party, I'm not challenging him but I'm not canvassing the backbench, you know who is canvassing the backbench? The media, so you tell me what's going on."

The press conference, which at times descended into farcical scenes, was the third media appearance for Mr Pyne who earlier on Friday gave only a lukewarm assessment of the Prime Minister's hold on the leadership during a dawn appearance on the Today show.

Mr Pyne was asked if Mr Abbott still has the numbers in the party room.

"That's a very inexact science, I hope he does, yes," Mr Pyne said.

"Will he be prime minister next Wednesday?" pressed host Karl Stefanovic.

"Well I certainly hope so," Mr Pyne replied.

Three hours later he sought to clarify his remarks in an interview with Sky News.  He accused the media of overreacting to his remarks and said he did not intend to fuel the media speculation with his comments.

But Ms Bishop defended her colleague.

"Christopher with the greatest respect doesn't have a crystal ball," she said.

"I can't read people's minds but what I can say is I'm not campaigning for the job of prime minister, I'm not contacting the backbench seeking their support and I'm not counting numbers," Ms Bishop added.

Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham added "none of us is Nostradamus" but called on his colleagues to get on with their jobs as parliamentarians.

But speaking in Sydney, Mr Hockey said Tony Abbott would "absolutely" be the Prime Minister next week.

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