The effect of transient creep on the indentation behaviour of a creeping solid has been investigated for a strain hardening primary creep law. Numerical analyses have been performed to obtain the full field solution for a frictionless ball indenter. The functional form of the relationship between the uniaxial response of the solid and the indentation behaviour of the material is explored. The implications of the results are discussed with regard to displacement- and load- controlled indentation creep tests, and the time hardening creep law. Experiments on primary creep indentation of lead support the indentation theory.