'If anyone thinks I haven't agonised over this, they don't know me': Cop who tipped off Indonesia to the Bali Nine says it was a difficult decision - but the right one 

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The senior Australian Federal Police officer who ordered for intelligence about the Bali Nine to be handed over to Indonesian authorities has revealed how he 'agonised' over the decision - which he knew could lead to the smugglers being sentenced to death.

But AFP officials today said they could not guarantee that a similar scenario to Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran's executions would not happen again, even despite death penalty guidelines introduced since the investigation.

After years of criticism of the AFP's actions, Deputy Commissioner Mike Phelan on Monday provided a glimpse of the toll the decision took on him at an extraordinary press conference in Canberra.

'If anyone thinks over the last ten years I haven't agonised over this decision, they don't know me,' Mr Phelan told reporters, adding that police at all levels are often charged with making 'difficult' split second decisions.

The press conference also heard that detectives were not in a position to arrest members of the Bali Nine syndicate prior to their departure from Australia and that the investigation 'did not' originate from a tip-off from Scott Rush's father.

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AFP deputy commissioner Michael Phelan (left) was the senior officer in charge of the Bali Nine investigation at the time. Phelan addressed the media with AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin in Canberra on Monday

AFP commissioner Andrew Colvin said: 'I wish I could assure you that htis scenario would not happen again, but I cannot'

Deputy commissioner Michael Phelan said: ''If anyone thinks over the last ten years I haven't agonised over this decision, they don't know me'

Answering questions from reporters, Mr Phelan said: 'I've... been in the (job) 30 years now, by then I'd been in the job 20 years. 

'I've seen the misery that drugs causes to tens of thousands of families in this country. 

'We are charged with executing the laws of this country to the best of our ability. That's the sort of thing that weighed on my mind at the moment.'

He said given what he knew at the time of making the decision, and what his subordinates knew, it would 'take a lot of convincing to make a different decisions. It was not easy'.

Phelan also revealed he stopped the first decision to hand over the Bali Nine intelligence so he could receive a full briefing. 

One officer even asked to be taken off the case, as he was 'not comfortable with us dealing with a death penalty situation'.

Commissioner Colvin told reporters he could not guarantee the same scenario would not happen again. 'I wish I could assure you that this scenario would not happen again, but I cannot'.

Andrew Chan (left) and Myuran Sukumaran (right) were put to death by firing squad 

Both underwent extensive rehabilitation efforts, with Chan becoming an ordained pastor and Sukumaran an accomplished artist

He said the guidelines relating to how the AFP deals with death penalty situations had 'changed considerably since 2005'.

'But no two scenarios are same. When we commence an investigation we cannot always predict where that investigation may lead.

The federal government has insisted police are still taking the death penalty into account before tipping off foreign agencies about suspected Australian criminals, in line with guidelines Labor issued in 2009.  

On Monday AFP will discuss their role in the investigation which lead to the execution of Australian drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran

Police have revealed that information provided by convicted drug mule Scott Rush's father Lee (pictured) was only one of three pieces of evidence police had relating to Rush prior to his departure from Australia

Phelan said reports the Bali Nine investigation originated with Lee Rush, the father of drug mule Scott, were 'simply not true'.  

Police had two other leads - a CrimeStoppers call and a travel booking connected to another member of the syndicate - that had already implicated Rush. 

'The important point to make here is that if Scott Rush's father or his lawyer acting on his behalf had never made contact with the AFP, we would still be in exactly the same position we are today,' Phelan said. 

The bodies of Chan and Sukumaran arrived in Sydney on Saturday, three days after they were carted from Nusakambangan by ambulances. 

After nearly ten years imprisonment friends said Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 34, had gone through a remarkable rehabilitation program prior to their executions. 

Prior to their deaths, Chan became an ordained pastor and married his partner, Feby Herewila. Under the tutelage of acclaimed Australian artists Ben Quilty and Matthew Sleeth, Sukumaran became an accomplished artist in his final years at Kerobokan Prison. 

Sleeth told Daily Mail Australia at the weekend that Sukumaran's final portraits were his 'finest work'.

Final portraits: Art teacher Matthew Sleeth told Daily Mail Australia Sukumaran's final paintings (including the above picture) were some of his finest work

A container believed to be carrying the bodies of the Balie Nine duo is escorted from the tarmac following their arrival at the international airport in Sydney on Saturday

Sukumaran's mother Raji (left) and brother Chinthu (right) are escorted to an awaiting car after arriving with other family members at the international airport in Sydney on Saturday

A forklift carries the coffin of either Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuman Sukumaran at Jakarta airport to be repatriated to Australia on Friday