Attendees said Lam gave short remarks at the start and end of the meeting and she did not respond to councillors’ specific views.

According to a recording, Lam concluded the session by telling councillors her administration would continue to listen to public views.

“I have heard clearly that you hope [officials] will spend more time communicating with the public,” Lam said, reiterating that she would kick off dialogue sessions with the public next week.

The pan-democrats, including a group of five Sha Tin district councillors, attended the meeting wearing black – in line with the anti-government protesters’ dress code – while others demonstrated with placards outside the venue.

The protests were triggered by an extradition bill, which would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China, and have since morphed into a larger anti-government movement, with calls for a commission of inquiry to investigate police’s use of force and to restart the city’s stalled political reform process.

Lam announced the bill would be withdrawn on September 4.

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Wednesday’s closed-door meeting had a house rule barring attendees from bringing helmets or recording or live streaming the event.

But Sunny Chiu Chu-pong, a pan-democrat from Sha Tin, disobeyed the order, briefly live streaming to his Facebook page before being made to stop.

Sai Kung district councillor Christine Fong Kwok-shan said Lam should not be afraid of being scolded by the public.

“If they hurl abuse at you, you just tell them not to use foul language,” Fong said. “But the government has to go to the streets.”

The Liberal Party’s Jeremy Young Chit-on, of The Peak constituency, hoped officials could have more direct communication with the public and a better understating with youngsters through social media.

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Sha Tin district councillor Lai Tsz-yan slammed the session as a “political show”.

“It is only for themselves, for the top officials to cosy up with the pro-establishment camp,” Lai said.

The meeting was held just two months before the district council elections on November 24 and many pro-establishment councillors who fear the effect the crisis will have on their chances of re-election snubbed it.

Judy Chan Ka-pui, of the New People’s Party, said she had better things to do in her neighbourhood.

“I would rather walk around in my district than be locked up for two hours,” Chan said. “I doubt Lam is going to say anything surprising.”

Nixie Lam Lam, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, also said she was uninterested.

“I don’t want to spend a long time travelling for little or even zero chance to speak,” she said.

Yet, Lam’s DAB party colleagues Edward Lau Kwok-fun and Holden Chow Ho-ding, both lawmakers, attended.

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“We can’t expect the government to solve the crisis in one meeting, but it is a good start for them to listen more,” Chow said.

Among the pro-democracy camp, the Democratic Party, Civic Party and Hong Kong Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood made their boycott clear.

“The demands of the public are crystal clear. It is pointless going,” Lo Kin-hei, vice-chairman of the Democratic Party, said.