Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig has written to his Indonesian counterpart Suswono seeking a resolution.
But Suswono is on the Hajj pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Mecca, so the letter is unlikely to get a quick response.
Indonesian trade minister Gita Wirjawan is also overseas in London and the director-general of Indonesia's department covering beef imports, Syukur Iwantoro, is in the Netherlands.
Deddy Saleh, the director-general of foreign trade for Indonesia, has told the ABC that the meat will not be allowed in.
He says trade and agricultural officials decided that the beef will have to be re-exported.
He says that will be the responsibility of the importer, so it is unclear where the meat will end up.
