Beirut: 60 Minutes presenter Tara Brown and Brisbane mother Sally Faulkner are facing at least another two days in a Beirut jail after appearing briefly before a judge who declared the matter was a not a "custody case" but one about the kidnapping of two children. The judge has postponed their case until Wednesday, allowing their lawyers to further negotiate.

Both women were handcuffed and wore dark clothing as they were led into Judge Rami Abdullah's chambers at the Palace of Justice for a session on Monday, which lasted roughly five minutes. In contrast with last week's appearance, the pair appeared fresh with their hair neatly done. Unable to speak to the media, Ms Brown was heard saying "hello" in a low voice.

Judge Abdullah told reporters the case was not a custodial dispute.

"It's not a custody case my friend. They are charged with kidnapping two kids. It's not a custody case at all," he said.

Ms Faulkner's estranged husband, Ali Elamine, broke his silence ahead of the hearing and declared he had never stopped Ms Faulkner from seeing their children, although he admitted to cutting off contact when emails left on the family iPad exposed her plans to try and snatch her children and take them back to Australia.

Ms Faulkner's lawyer will try and press for her release from Beirut's Women's Central Jail in Baabda if the negotiations fail but Mr Elamine said he would not be supporting his ex-partner's immediate freedom because he said that could lead to the entire seven charged over the operation to be freed as well.

"That's how I'm seeing it as an outsider. It seems like they're pushing for Sal's release and everyone gets a little green card on the way out," the Californian-raised Mr Elamine said.

Ms Faulkner claims her husband took their children to Lebanon in May 2015 and did not let them return to Australia as promised.  Earlier this month, two men abducted Noah, 3, and Lahala, 5, while they were walking along a busy street in the Hezbollah-controlled district of Hadath in Beirut's southern suburbs.

The incident was caught on CCTV. A local shopkeeper said her son witnessed the entire operation.

"He said he saw people grabbing the children into a van, and the grandmother running after them pelting them with her handbag," she told Fairfax Media.

Mr Elamine said his mother had suffered three internal head injuries in the altercation but was getting better. "We went to the doctor on Thursday, the bleeding in her head kind of stopped, so now it's just a matter of time before it dries up, she should be good."

He said the children had complained about their mother's "rough" friends.

"What do the kids want? I don't think they wanted all of this, I'll tell you that. They were happy that they saw her. They were a bit bummed that mummy's friends are strong and rough. I just told my biggest they work out a lot," he said.

Mr Elamine confirmed his children wanted to see their mother and "probably" wanted to visit her in Australia but added: They're kids, they always want what they don't have at the moment, I mean you take kids to a toy store, they want the whole store."

He ruled out letting them travel to Australia claiming he would not get a fair hearing in the Australian courts or media.

"Why not? I mean, are you kidding? What would you think? They have new passports, the media's on it, I'm pretty sure someone from the government's also involved,"  he said.

This means Ms Faulkner's access to her children would likely be restricted to visits in either Lebanon or a third country, in the event a negotiation is reached. 

Who paid for what?

One matter in dispute by the parties involved is whether Channel Nine paid for the child recovery operation to take place.

Earlier on Monday, Nine's lawyer, Kamal Abu Zahar, confirmed the network had made a payment in relation to the story but insisted it was for the story itself and not for the operation.

"Channel Nine paid for the story," he told Fairfax Media. "This lady [Sally Faulkner] came to them after contracting Adam [Whittington]," he said. He said Nine's priority was the children but Mr Elamine was not actively pursuing a swift resolution.

"Sally's lawyer talked to him and they were reaching something but all of a sudden Ali's lawyers said 'we're not in a hurry,'" Mr Abu Zahar said.

Mr Whittington, who runs a self-styled international child recovery organisation, told News Corp he had two receipts to prove Nine paid him directly for the operation and would testify against the network. A source rubbished this and said he "was talking shit".

Mr Elamine said the group appeared to be turning on each other after the operation was foiled when police arrested Ms Faulkner, her television crew, Mr Whittington and his accomplice Craig Michael a short time after the abduction and before they could make their getaway to Cyprus on a luxury yacht. "Everyone's blaming the other person for what happened," he said.

Embassy officials observing negotiations

Officials from the Australian and British embassies were observing but not taking part in the negotiations, Mr Abu Zahar said.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she was still in constant communications with her Lebanese counterpart "to receive updates, to make suggestions".

"The law in Lebanon is quite different to Australian law. It's based on a French system, so there have been arrests, then an investigation and then an investigating judge determines whether charges will be laid and I understand we're at that stage of the proceedings," she told Network Ten.

Ms Bishop directly addressed the custodial dispute, which preceded the events in Beirut, and said Lebanon was not signatory to the International Hague Convention which deals with child abduction.

"In this case Lebanese law gives custody to the father. Australian law has given custody to the mother," she said.

Australia and Lebanon has a bilateral agreement which would see a mediation commission established to sort out the pair's dispute, but both parents would need to consent.

Both the Australian and Lebanese governments are ready to establish such a commission, the minister said.

A spokeswoman for Britain's Foreign Office said: "We are providing consular assistance to two British nationals following their arrest in Beirut on 7 April."

Follow Latika Bourke on Facebook.