Former prime minister John Howard says it's wrong to blame the media for Tony Abbott's demise, saying his removal at the hands of his colleagues was sealed by "entrenched" poor polling.

Mr Howard's assessment stands in contrast to his former political protege's missive aimed at the press gallery in his last statement as prime minister.

Moments before delivering his resignation to the Governor-General, Mr Abbott lamented that political coverage was driven more and more by polls and commentary that was "mostly sour, bitter, character assassination".

"Poll-driven panic has produced a revolving-door prime ministership which can't be good for our country. And a febrile media culture has developed that rewards treachery," he said.

"And if there's one piece of advice I can give to the media, it's this: refuse to print self-serving claims that the person making them won't put his or her name to. Refuse to connive at dishonour by acting as the assassin's knife."

Mr Abbott's critique was picked up by many of his backers in the Murdoch tabloids and on talkback radio, but rejected by Mr Howard.

"I'm not into blaming the media," he said. "They have a very important role to play in public life.

"I do think we are living in a more supercharged, frenetic, top-of-the-head [media] environment and it is different.

"I can understand people drawing surface comparisons but I think there's more to the surface comparisons.

"I do think the major reason the Liberal Party made the change was the state of the polls."

"Politics is relentlessly driven by the laws of arithmetic and I do think, if the polls had been different, even to a modest but measurable degree, there may not have been a change."

Mr Howard declined to reveal if he believed the party room took the right decision in deposing Mr Abbott.

"Ultimately, the Australian people will decide that," he said.

He also refused to say whether - as reported - he had advised Mr Abbott to offer Malcolm Turnbull the treasurer's position earlier this year to heal divisions and provide a circuit-breaker to his political misfortune.

He added he was glad he helped persuade Mr Turnbull not to quit politics in 2010, although he did not anticipate at the time that he would become Prime Minister.

Mr Howard had generous praise for Mr Abbott, highlighting the end of asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat, the axing of the carbon and mining taxes and the efforts to repair the budget as "very significant legacies".

In his view, perhaps Mr Abbott's greatest political achievement was almost defeating a first-term Labor government in 2010.

"He effectively ... killed off a first-term Labor government. It may have taken another three years for it to be buried and cremated, but it was killed off at the 2010 election," he said.

"Nobody else leading the Liberal Party could have achieved that."

He revealed he was surprised when Mr Abbott overthrew Mr Turnbull when he was opposition leader in 2009.

"But, by heaven, once he got the job, he made the most of it."

As for Mr Turnbull, he was "a very good minister" in the his government who explains economic concepts "very clearly and very lucidly".

"That, as he indicated yesterday, would be an important part of the skill set that he brings to his new responsibilities," Mr Howard said.

"He will have all the support and advice that he may care to seek from me ... as much as or little as he chooses."

After 11 years as prime minister, Mr Howard is Australia's second longest serving prime minister.

He was ousted eight years ago but remains the last Australian prime minister to serve a full term.

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