SCHAPELLE Corby's mother Rosleigh Rose says her daughter will be better off serving out her sentence in Bali despite Australia and Indonesia agreeing on a prisoner exchange deal.

Ms Rose agreed that conditions would be better in Australia and that her daughter would be easier to visit.

But she baulked at her daughter's transfer because she was not sure of legal avenues for future appeals in Australia.

"Yes all that would be better but she's innocent and she should not be transferred from one jail to another," she said.

"It all sounds good when you are saying it like that ... but we don't know how our avenues are here to free Schapelle."

Ms Rose said she wouldn't tell her daughter to stay in Bali and fight her case in Indonesia if the opportunity arose to return to Australia.

"No, I'm not expecting anything. This is Schapelle's life - it is her decision," she said.

"We will just talk about it and see what is happening.

"We will have a family discussion and see what will be best.

"This is after we speak to lawyers and see what we can do about it - it's early stages yet.

"But it's Schapelle's decision."

Hard time ... Schapelle Corby in Kerobokan prison. Picture: Lukman S. Bintoro (File)

AUSTRALIA and Indonesia have moved closer to a prisoner-exchange deal, which is expected to be signed in Bali today.

Indonesian Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin revealed late yesterday he planned to finalise arrangements for the treaty when he meets Attorney-General Philip Ruddock in Bali today. The plan is to sign the agreement in September.

Revelations a prisoner-exchange treaty between Australia and its near neighbour is close to reality will come as good news to at least some of the Australians in Bali's Kerobokan jail.

It comes as a surprise to many who believed such a treaty was years away, especially after relations between the countries chilled in the wake of the Papuan asylum-seekers row.

Some Indonesian officials and lawmakers have suggested, in the past few months, that prisoner-exchange was off the table until the asylum issue had been properly resolved.

Dr Awaluddin told a press conference, on the sidelines of a two-day joint ministerial meeting in Bali, the countries now had ironed out any "major differences" on the issue.

"We do not have any differences between me as Minister of Justice of Indonesia and Attorney-General of Australia," Dr Awaluddin said.

"I hope tomorrow (Thursday) we will finalise this talk when I meet the Attorney-General and if we reach that agreement tomorrow I expect when I visit Australia in September we can sign bilateral agreement."

Dr Awaluddin said the agreement was now "substantively" arranged. However, he did not give details of how much of their sentences Australian prisoners would need to serve in Indonesia before they would qualify to go home to a prison in their own state.

The issue was reinvigorated after former beauty student Schapelle Corby was sentenced to 20 years' jail for marijuana smuggling.

At this time it was suggested prisoners would first need to serve about half of their sentence in Indonesia, similar to an agreement between Australia and Thailand.

Uncertainty remains for those jailed for life, given that not all states of Australia have truth in sentencing when it comes to life terms.

However, the two Bali Nine ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who received the death penalty, may not benefit from the scheme.

Ten Australians are in Bali's jail. Aside from Corby, Chan and Sukumaran, five other members of the Bali Nine are serving 20-year jail terms and two have had their life sentences confirmed by the High Court.

While the announcement will be good news to some of these, others have previously said they would rather serve their jail terms in Bali.

This is because money in an Indonesian jail can buy prisoners many privileges which are strictly banned in Australian jails and early remissions here can slash years from sentences.

Dr Awaluddin sidestepped the question of when three of the 2002 Bali bombers, all on death row, will be executed, saying it was a matter for the country's Attorney-General.

However, he confirmed Balinese prosecutors had two weeks ago requested that the trio face the firing squad at the Nusa Kambangan island prison where they are held rather than be returned to Bali for the execution.

But the bombers' lawyers have put the brakes on any plans for imminent firing squad action, saying the trio will seek to lodge further applications for judicial reviews of their cases.

Schapelle Corby Case Information