Two Australians convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia to face firing squad within 72 hours

Two Australians convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia are set to be shot by firing squad on Wednesday.

Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, ringleaders of the infamous Bali Nine, will be executed just after the stroke of midnight (5pm GMT) on April 29.

The date became official when a funeral director in the nearest port to Nusakambangan - known as Death Island - was told to inscribe the names of those to be killed and the date of their deaths.

London-born Sukumaran and Chan were convicted in 2006 as the masterminds behind a plot to smuggle more than 18lb (8.3kg) of heroin out of Bali - they had appeals for clemency rejected in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

The pair refused to sign their execution warrants when given notice of their deaths during official proceedings on Saturday, saying they believed it would be unjust to kill them.

Under Indonesian law, those on death row must be given 72 hours' warning before they are killed.

Sukumaran and Chan, along with seven other foreigners and one Indonesian man, face the firing squad later this week.

Images from Death Island show a self portrait, painted by Sukumaran in his cell, called 72hrs Just Started and showing the convict shot through the heart.

When refusing to sign the death papers, Sukumaran told officials he believed he had been rehabilitated and that he had been doing positive work in prison.

"When he received the 72 hours notice he remained dignified and peaceful.

"He spoke with courtesy and clarity to a hushed room explaining why he felt to proceed to execution was unjust," the pair's lawyer Julian McMahon told the News Corp website.

Mr McMahon said Chan also refused to sign the papers, explaining that he had been rehabilitated in the ten years he had spent in prison.

"I have helped other inmates as much as I can and I still do and that’s not me talking, you will hear that from a lot of people, the ones I have helped," Chan said.

The pair were also asked to outline their last requests, with Chan asking for extra time in church to pray with his family and Sukumaran asking to be able to paint as much as possible before his death.

Sukumaran's mother Raji and sister Brintha visited him on Sunday, making the heart-breaking journey with Chan's mother Helen, brother Michael and fiancee Feby Herewila and other friends.

The other convicts to be executed simultaneously with the two Australians are Frenchman Serge Areski Atlaoui, London-born Ghanaian Martin Anderson, Brazilian national Rodrigo Gularte, Nigerians Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise, Okwudili Ayotanze and Raheem Agbaje Salami, Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso of the Philippines and Indonesian Zainal Abidin bin Mgs Mahmud Badarudin

Utomo Karim, lawyer for Salami, said: "Each convict on death row was called in one by one, for between 30 minutes to one hour, it varied.

"My client was notified of the day of the execution, it will be (just after midnight on) Tuesday night."

"My client has received a notification letter that in 72 hours there will be an execution," he said.

"Families will have time to visit Nusakambangan until Tuesday 2pm ... it will be carried out on later on Tuesday after midnight."

Australia has called on Indonesia to delay the execution until corruption claims are investigated.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she spoke to her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi late on Sunday.

It has been reported the judges who sentenced Chan and Sukumaran to death were allegedly willing to give them a more lenient sentence in return for bribes of more than $130,000, but later changed their minds and demanded more money after senior government figures ordered them to impose the death penalty.Mr Karim added that the others were also told the countdown to their execution had started.

Bali-based lawyer Muhammad Rifan said he had meetings with judges, who allegedly started demanding more money to deliver a prison sentence of 20 years or less saying it was risky, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

Mr Rifan said he believed the judges were bluffing, a mistake he now fears will turn out to be fatal after the death penalty was handed down.

Sukumaran brother Chinthu said his sibling had made peace with the situation, "but he and we all feel that this is a grave injustice and it did not have to be this way and it still doesn't have to be this way", he told reporters.

"We ask the president to please use his powers to intervene and save their lives."

Michael Chan said mercy must be part of Indonesia's legal system and implored the president for his mercy.

"He's the only one that can stop it and it's not too late to do so," he said.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is due to meet French leader Francios Hollande on Monday, having pledged to work together to stop the executions, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has added his voice to global calls to halt the execution plans.

But Indonesia's President Joko Widodo appears to have closed his ears to calls for mercy from the families and the world.

Before leaving for a summit in Malaysia on Sunday, the president known as Jokowi told reporters: "I've already talked several times about it, I don't want to talk about it again," news website Rappler reported.

Last ditch efforts to save the pair have also been launched by not-for-profit organisations, such as Amnesty International.

Thousands of flowers will be used to spell out the words KeepHopeAlive at a reserve overlooking Sydney Harbour in an appeal for Chan and Sukuraman.

Sukumaran's sister, Brintha, has pleaded for her older brother's life in a short YouTube video.

"My brother made a mistake 10 years ago and he's paid for that mistake every single day since then," she said while clutching a photo of Sukumaran as a boy.

"My family and I have also paid for this mistake as well."

He's become a good man after 10 years in jail, she said.

"He has taught so many Indonesian prisoners about art and how to live outside in the world and have a good and productive life," she said.

"From the bottom of my heart, please President Widodo, have mercy on my brother."