Bali Nine ringleader Andrew Chan has lost his final appeal against his death sentence for his role in a 2005 plot to smuggle heroin from Bali to Australia.
Chan, 27, from Sydney, will now have to rely on clemency from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono if he is to have any hope of getting off death row.
Chan's Australian lawyer, Julian McMahon, gave a cautious response to the decision, saying if it was proved to be accurate, all efforts would be focused on applying for clemency.
"If the report is accurate it's a real blow," he told AAP on Friday.
"But there's a long way to go. We will have to focus all our efforts on the president.
"The merits of Andrew's case are very strong."
A spokeswoman for Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said the Australian government would support Chan's likely bid for clemency.
"The minister's thoughts are very much with Mr Chan and his family at this deeply distressing time," she said.
"Mr Chan can still appeal for clemency and as the Australian government has always indicated, we will strongly support clemency for Mr Chan."
Opposition Foreign Affairs spokesperson Julie Bishop agreed the government should appeal to Indonesia's president to show mercy to Chan.
Chan's Indonesian-based lawyers said they were shocked when the ruling was posted without notice on the Indonesian Supreme Court website on Friday afternoon.
"Result of decision: Rejected," the website said.
The lawyers said they were preparing to inform Chan of the decision.
There were few details provided, although the posting did reveal that the decision was made by a panel of three judges on May 10, the same day the court announced it had commuted fellow Bali Nine member Scott Rush's death sentence to life in prison.
Chan's Indonesian lawyer, Todung Mulya Lubis, said he was yet to read the official judgment.
"We haven't read the actual decision yet, I just read it on the website," he said.
"I'm still shocked with this decision. Legal efforts have been finished".
Chan, along with Myuran Sukumaran, also considered a ringleader in the drug-smuggling plot, launched his final appeal, known as a judicial review, in August last year.
The decision on Sukumaran's judicial review has not been announced.
But in worrying sign for Sukumaran, the same panel of judges that declared Chan should be put to death will also decide his fate.
Clemency for drug-related offences in Indonesia is very rare, and Dr Yudhoyono has made it clear in the past that he is opposed to showing mercy for people sentenced to death for drug trafficking, having said those involved in the narcotics trade did not deserve leniency.
There had been hope for both Chan and Sukumaran after the three judges - Suwardi, Achmad Yamanie and Imron Anwari - provided a legal opinion in which they stated that the sanctity of life must be considered.
They had supported arguments put to the court by the pair's legal team, while also referring to Indonesia's constitution, which states that everybody has the right to life.
It was also thought their chances of escaping the firing squad had been boosted after the pair at their last court appearance admitted their guilt, and said they were committed to rehabilitation.
Chan and Sukumaran were among nine Australians convicted over the attempt to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin out of Bali, but they are the only two of the group still on death row.
Like Rush, five other members of the drug conspiracy, Martin Stephens, Matthew Norman, Si Yi Chen, Tan Duc Than Nguyen and Michael Czugaj are also serving life sentences.
The final member of the drug ring, Renae Lawrence, is serving a 20-year sentence, which has already been reduced by almost two years.
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