We're all French today: governor-general

Governor-General Peter Cosgrove has been the first to sign a condolence book in Canberra for the victims of the Paris terror attacks.

Sir Peter and his wife Lynne attended a ceremony at the French embassy on Monday, describing the events in Paris as horrible.

"Today we're all to some degree French, as we stand with the people of the great French republic in their sorrow," he told reporters.

Ambassador Christophe Lecourtier said airstrikes over Syria were the beginning of the French response to the attacks.

Negotiations are taking place with allies such as Australia about what more can be done.

"We do believe that it's a right fight, that it's a right war and that in the coming times we shall have to find all together the means to win such a war," he told reporters.