Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has discussed economic and security pressures with outgoing US President Joe Biden ahead of a summit focusing on the Indo-Pacific region.
The prime minister is in the US state of Delaware for the fourth in-person meeting of the Quad with leaders of the US, Japan and India.
The summit may be a "final victory lap" for Mr Biden but Australia will still have a crucial role to play, experts say.
While security and stability in the Indo-Pacific will dominate discussions, the summit will be the last attended by the outgoing US president before November's election.
Anthony Albanese has had one-on-one talks with the US president ahead of the Quad meeting. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)
Mr Albanese attended a one-on-one meeting with Mr Biden at the personal home of the president and former Delaware senator on Friday evening, local time, with a meeting of the Quad to follow.
The pair discussed defence and security co-operation in the Indo-Pacific and the AUKUS partnership as well as Australia's progress towards a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.
Economic issues including inflation and supply chains were also canvassed along with climate action and clean energy.
Mr Albanese said their meeting highlighted the productivity and importance of the partnership amid global economic and security challenges.
"We are facing our decades-long alliance to the future, strengthening our economic ties and investing in the security of our shared region," Mr Albanese said following the meeting.
"Australia and the US continue to co-operate closely on climate and clean energy and remain committed to our shared goal of expanding and diversifying critical mineral supply chains."
Joe Biden has been a champion of the Quad and US engagement in the region, Anthony Albanese says. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)
Regional challenges will be the focus of further discussions when the pair meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
"We will be discussing ways in which we can provide further support in the region, to developing nations, including the action that we are taking together on climate change and supporting their energy security," Mr Albanese said ahead of the summit.
The Quad had brought a united front to the region despite the perception it had not delivered tangible results, the Lowy Institute's Southeast Asia Program director Susannah Patton said.
"The Quad in many ways is the centrepiece of the Biden administration's Indo-Pacific strategy, so it's important to the US they do this final victory lap and finish on a high note," she told AAP.
"This summit in the US is an effort by the Biden team to show (the Quad) is working and bringing the four countries together and there is coherence among those partners to have a willingness to present an alternative vision to China."
While Australia may be the smallest of the Quad nations, Ms Patton said it would have a critical role given its proximity to Pacific nations and China.
"Australia will definitely be important because Albanese will be one of only two leaders still there to take the agenda forward, and there's a lot of appreciation for the role Australia is playing in the region and the Pacific," she said.
"Australia's position as a country within the Indo-Pacific is something that contributes to those conversations."
The upcoming Quad meeting would not differ greatly from previous summits but it was important the group demonstrate real outcomes, United States Studies Centre research fellow Tom Corben said.
"The stock placed in the Quad as a bellwether of US strategy in Asia can be overstated," he told AAP.
"It is now beyond the point for flashy statements and it's time for concrete action."