Representatives from Cricket Australia (CA), the sport’s national governing body, had been meeting with their counterparts at the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) to try and produce a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in order to keep players available for selection.

However, the deadline for a new MoU passed this morning and with no deal reached, the players will be out of contract from midnight tonight when the current contracts expire.

The contracts affect 29 international male players, 15 women’s internationals, 99 female state players and 167 male state players.

A further 70 men’s players on multi-year state contracts will also see their deals expire.

The row erupted after CA's proposals removed an element which would see a slice of their profits go to the players.

Officials at the organisation said the cricketers would still be getting a pay rise but the ACA claim players will lose out on money in real terms.

"Over the past months, CA has repeatedly sought to engage with the ACA in a genuine dialogue and to commence a proper negotiation," a CA statement said.

"It is regrettable that these efforts have been rebuffed, resulting in the current situation which CA recognises is not in the interests of either the players or the game.

"It is unfortunate that the ACA’s hard line and inflexible position has not been conducive to delivering any positive outcomes or certainty for players."

Greg Dyer, President of the ACA, criticised CA and its chief executive James Sutherland for a new deal not being reached.

"Refusing offers of flexibility and to attend mediation says a lot, as does the refusal of the CA chief executive to be involved," Dyer said.

"It’s been a case of divide and rule from the start and when that failed, the threats started and haven’t stopped."

If a new deal is not arranged, the Ashes Test series due to begin in November against England could be affected as their top male players might not put themselves up for selection.

Australia’s men are also due to play Test matches in Bangladesh in August and a limited overs series in India.

Temporary deals have been forged to keep the country’s women’s team together during the current World Cup being held in England.

Last week, CA made a revised offer to the ACA, including an obligation to allow male and female domestic players to have a share of an increased pool of surplus revenue from the body and a pay rise.

The amount in the surplus fund was not specified.

Although the ACA did not formally respond to this offer, they did say in a statement that the proposals were still "unacceptable".