Julie Bishop's powerful plea for the Bali Nine duo's lives.

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has made a powerful plea for the lives of Bali Nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

“On behalf of the parliament, I respectfully ask of the Indonesian president that he spare the lives of these two Australian citizens,” Ms Bishop told Parliament during Question Time today.

“I know that Indonesia opposes the death penalty as it applies to its citizens when they face death row in countries overseas,” she said.

“So we’re not asking the (Indonesian) president or the government to do any more than they ask of other governments when their citizens are on death row.

“We will continue to appeal to president Widodo’s strength and his humanity to show mercy and forgiveness for these two Australian men who have undergone this remarkable rehabilitation.”

Ms Bishop said she had spoken to the “devastated” families of both men this morning.

“As you can imagine they are devastated but they are just living day by day,” she said.

Ms Bishop added that there were grounds for clemency and the Australian government believed there were still legal avenues open to the pair.

Related content: Julie Bishop’s first column for Mamamia.

“The grounds are that both men have shown immense remorse for their grave crimes and … have undergone an extraordinary rehabilitation,” she said.

Attorney-General George Brandis said in the Senate that the government had made at least 22 representations to Indonesian officials, including letters and phone calls to Tony Abbott, this year in a bid to save the duo.

Related content: This is what Chan and Sukumaran’s last day on earth will look like.