A method of canceling setup of a real-time media conference session between an originating station and a terminating station via a conference server in a scenario where the conference server receives an invitation message from the originating station to set up a conference session with the terminating station and the conference server receives a cancellation message from the originating station before setup of a conference leg between the conference server and the terminating station is complete. In such a scenario, the conference server would complete setup of the conference leg between the conference server and the terminating station. Then, the conference server may send a teardown message to the terminating station. The teardown message tears down the conference leg between the conference server and the terminating station.