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Retail investors will now be able to buy $10,000 parcels of Australian government bonds on the Australian Securities Exchange, five years after the process began to make it possible.

ASX chief executive Elmer Funke Kupper launched the market yesterday, to go live today at 10.15am, although he made it clear he did not expect a rush as bond prices were looking much likelier to drop than rise.

"It's been a long time coming," he admitted, but said the ASX had an eye on the longer term and hoped the innovation would underpin a yet-to-develop retail market in corporate bonds.

The Australian government bond market, which was nearly paid out of existence during the Howard government, now stands at about $150 billion.