Legendary leg-spinner Shane Warne has described calls for him to come out of retirement and help Australia's ailing Ashes hopes as "very flattering", but a shock return remains unlikely.

The 41-year-old former Hampshire skipper has not played Test cricket since retiring immediately after Australia's 5-0 whitewash victory over England four years ago.

His last first class appearance was for Hampshire against Yorkshire at Headingley in September 2007, and since then he has played just Hong Kong Sixes and Indian Premier League matches.

But with Australia in danger of losing the Ashes on home soil for the first time in 24 years, there have been calls in his homeland for him to return.

Warne, Australia's all-time leading wicket-taker with 708 in 145 Tests, has not categorically ruled out the possibility and has even mentioned the idea on his Twitter page in recent weeks.

But, despite that, the likelihood of seeing Warne return to Test cricket seems remote given his long absence from the game.

"There has been a bit written in Australia and people have been asking me about making a comeback," he wrote in his Daily Telegraph column.

"All I can say is that it is very flattering to hear those words."

Australia fell 1-0 behind in the five-Test series with a demoralising innings-and-71-run defeat at the Adelaide Oval yesterday.

Warne believes the home side can not afford to panic after the defeat, with speculation they could make up to four changes for the third Test in Perth next week.

Instead Warne has called for the selectors to stick with experienced players and overlook the likes of uncapped batsmen such as Usman Khawaja and Callum Ferguson.

"This is not the time to blood youngsters or panic," he added.

"If Australia lose this series badly then that is the time to reassess everything and say, 'Right, it is back to the drawing board'.

"Then they can give three or four youngsters a go, with four or five experienced players, and try to rectify things."