It was billed as a showdown of the heavyweights, the moment Tony Abbott would have the chance to deliver a shirtfront, as promised, to Vladimir Putin, the bear-riding, often bare-chested president of a nuclear super power.

But when the moment came, Abbott baulked, at least physically, and no one was surprised.

The Australian PM met the Russian leader on the sidelines of the APEC summit in China and talked with him. He gestured with his hands. He nodded emphatically to reinforce a point. But that was the extent of the physical confrontation.

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The anti-climactic moment comes after Mr Abbott said he would “shirtfront” Mr Putin over the shooting down of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet, which killed 298 people, 38 of whom were Australian.

Perhaps realising the undiplomatic nature of his original promise, the Australian leader subsequently toned down his language, instead pledging a “robust” conversation.

Asked if Mr Abbott managed to “shirtfront” the Russian leader over the issue, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “It appears that he did not try.”

A statement from Mr Abbott’s office said the Prime Minister “observed that when the United States had inadvertently shot down a civilian aircraft, it had duly apologised and made appropriate restitution”.

“He commended the precedent to President Putin,” the statement said.

“The Prime Minister told Mr Putin that Australia was in possession of information suggesting that MH17 was destroyed by a missile from a launcher that had come out of Russia, was fired from inside eastern Ukraine and then returned to Russia.”

The meeting at the picturesque Yanqi Lake just outside Beijing followed a brief exchange on Monday night, in which Mr Abbott raised the MH17 attack and the need to ensure investigators could access the crash site.

APEC leaders pose for a group photo. Photo: AAP

Mr Abbott and Mr Putin reportedly agreed all relevant information should be provided to the independent investigation and that the investigation should proceed with the full support of the international community.

Anger at Mr Putin was so fierce after the MH17 tragedy – Kiev and the West say the plane was blown out of the sky with a missile supplied by Russia – that there were calls for Mr Putin to be banned from coming to Australia for the G20 summit, which starts in Brisbane on Friday.

But Mr Abbott also wanted the G20 to stay focused on its economic remit, and sought to get the MH17 conversation with Mr Putin out of the way in Beijing.

The pair had declined to look at each other when sat in adjacent seats for an earlier meeting in the Chinese capital.

Tuesday’s meeting means they will likely avoid a confrontation at the G20 summit in Brisbane this weekend.

But Russian analysts had already dismissed talk of Mr Putin being chastened in Brisbane.

“There was this idea, in Australia in particular, to turn the G20 into a place where Russia would be stigmatised for its aggression against Ukraine,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, chairman of the Kremlin-connected Council on Foreign and Defence Policy.

“That won’t happen because half of the G20 members are not interested in seeing so much hype about this.

“There won’t be any flagellation.”

Or shirtfronts, it seems.

– with agencies