It appears that the joke failed to hit the mark as critics raised howl and accused ABC of breaching the limits of decency and propriety when its show 'At Home with Julia' depicted Prime Minister Julia Gillard in a steamy scene and draped with the Australian flag.

While the scene itself did not violate any existing laws, experts noted that producers of the show ignored a long standing federal protocol that advises against the flag hitting or lying on the ground or being utilised as a cover on anything.

The same protocol states that the only occasion the Australian flag can be used as cover would be to wrap over a coffin during funerals.

Set to broadcast on Wednesday, 'At Home with Julia' earned the ire of may quarters as it would show Ms Gillard having sex with her partner, right in her office and covered only by the Australian flag.

Critics called the scene as tasteless and bordering to disrespect but ABC thinks otherwise and asserted that the depiction was motivated by the love between the Prime Minister and her boyfriend, with the flag specifically bearing the symbol of the bond between them.

"If it's OK for others to drape themselves in our flag for all manner of occasions, I really don't see why it can't be draped over our prime minister as a symbol of love," an ABC spokesman told Yahoo7 on Tuesday.

Yet the network's argument failed to convince monarchist Professor David Flint, who deemed the show as not even funny and with the way it used the national flag, show producers, he stressed, opted to showcase indecency.

"This is probably going a bit far ... and I think a bit more discretion when using the flag is appropriate, even when you are trying to make a joke," Flint was quoted by Yahoo7 as saying.

At present though, Australian laws carry non-specific definitions of the inappropriate use of the flag. Also, past attempts to criminalise the burning or any form of desecrating the Australian flag had failed to win support in the Parliament, Yahoo7 said.