The federal government will formally register a complaint with Indonesia over a “distressing” Bali bombings commemoration ceremony at which footage was aired of the 2002 attack as well as of the terrorists who plotted the bombing.

Survivors and family and friends of the 202 people who died in the Kuta nightclub bombings gathered in front of the memorial to victims, across the road from the site of the former Sari Club, for an official Indonesian service to coincide with the moment when the deadly explosions occurred two decades ago.

Organisers at the site of the attack in Kuta showed a documentary about the bombings which included the faces of the bombers and bomb maker Umar Patek, who is soon due to be released from jail.

Families of victims were left angered by the decision, on the 20th anniversary of the tragedy.

"They got it so right, all day, and then they got it so wrong," Nine News reporter Damian Ryan told Liam Bartlett on 6PR Mornings from Kuta.

"Before the minute's silence they were forced to re-live literally very graphically those events ... they even had a re-enactment in this documentary of the bombers arriving at the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar... and then they had the real-life vision."