The Australian government is under pressure to impose sanctions on Myanmar's military junta and activists are calling on ANZ Bank to reconsider its dealings in the South-East Asian nation amid new revelations about jet fuel supply chains and transactions.

An Amnesty International report released on Thursday called on the international community to "urgently prevent shipments of aviation fuel from reaching the Myanmar military".

The report found companies involved in supplying aviation fuel were then linked to alleged war crimes and deadly air strikes.

Tasneem Roc — from the Australia-based Myanmar Campaign Network — called on the Australia's federal government to act. 

"Strong statements will not save lives, sanctions will save lives," Ms Roc said. 

Her group said the country did not produce its own jets, helicopters, tanks nor aviation fuel, and that targeted sanctions on Myanmar military businesses would "cut the flow of foreign revenue the Myanmar junta relies on to purchase arms".

Naw Wahku Shee — from the Karen Peace Support Network — said the latest war crimes were an escalation of ongoing assaults against ethnic groups over decades.

"The drones come every day and night, then the air strikes come," she said.

Australia is an outlier among like-minded countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and the European Union, all of which have imposed sanctions on Myanmar's military rulers since the coup on February 1 last year.

Since then, more than 2,400 people have been killed, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, including dozens in recent deadly military air bombing of a concert in Kachin state.

More than 16,000 have been arrested, including Australian economist Sean Turnell.

He was sentenced to three years in prison in what human rights groups have described as a politically motivated conviction by a military court. 

Leaked ANZ transactions renew calls for sanctions

This week, leaked bank records released by the Distributed Denial of Secrets — a journalist organisation with a focus on transparency and data — showed that a handful of transactions were made via the ANZ Bank to military-owned Innwa Bank since the coup.

Innwa bank is owned by the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), a military conglomerate which has been sanctioned by the US, the UK and the EU since last year. 

The ABC understands the transactions were in Myanmar kyat, rather than US dollars, which appears to not violate US sanctions, and Australia has yet to impose any economic sanctions.

"ANZ has not breached Australian or international sanctions, and to suggest otherwise could be misleading and deceptive," an ANZ spokesperson said. 

However, according to Justyna Gudzowska — the director of illicit finance policy with The Sentry in the US — it was not a good look for ANZ.

"Financial institutions that continue to do business with US, UK, and EU-sanctioned entities, especially those [that] are linked to a brutal military regime that commits atrocities against its own people, take on substantial reputational risk," she said.

It could also cause issues in dealing with partner banks, she added.

"This is why many multinational banks adhere to US, UK and EU sanctions, even if not strictly required by law and would rather abandon their limited exposure to Myanmar rather than take on these risks and extra compliance costs of doing business with a high-risk jurisdiction."