Motorists are unlikely to get ongoing relief from fuel excise beyond the end of June, despite warnings the full impact from the Strait of Hormuz closure hasn’t hit yet.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has given his clearest indication yet that the Government doesn’t want to extend the $2.5 billion measure to halve the fuel excise beyond the planned three months.

The excise cut came into effect on April 1 and is due to end on June 30.

“We’re not anticipating extending that or expecting to extend it, but we keep it under review really from week to week,” Dr Chalmers said on Wednesday.

“And that’s because what we’re trying to do here is to provide cost of living relief in the most responsible way that we can, and that means, in this case, in a temporary way.”

Inflation in April came in at 4.2 per cent for the year and 0.4 per cent for the month, lower on both measures than in March, Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released on Wednesday showed.

Automotive fuel dropped 7 per cent in the month, although fuel prices were still 23.5 per cent higher than in February, before the US-Israel-Iran war began, ABS head of prices statistics Sue-Ellen Luke said.

Dr Chalmers said Treasury modelling indicated that cutting the excise to 26.3 cents a litre had reduced inflation by about 0.5 per cent.

But he avoided answering whether he was worried about the inflationary impact of it returning to the full 52.6 cents a litre, saying only that inflation was still a challenge in the economy and the government was focused on it.