Is it safe to leave my character idling if I suddenly have to go?

Since there is no saving in Diablo 3, suppose I suddenly have to go do something with no previous warning (having a 2 year old son will do that to you), and I'm in a relatively safe area (no boss fight), can I leave my character idling in a corner with no fear of monsters walking by and attacking her?

Alternatively, can I use my town portal and idle there? What happens when I teleport back? Do the monsters respawn?

Solution 1:

IF you are soloing you can "Pause" the game by pressing ESC or ESCAPE Also you can Press Y and go in pause as well

You can also use T and head back to the city (If you are not in a boss fight/dungeon) and return for your spot after that.

Solution 2:

In the beta, it was discovered that other players can kite monsters even into town. If you are playing with other people, idling is only safe if you are in an area that requires you to "zone in" (such as Deckard Cain's house in Act 1).

For solo games, the safest way to idle is to pause the game, as others have mentioned.

Solution 3:

Monsters do you not respawn unless you leave and rejoin your game, or do something that causes an area to reset(which wouldn't happen while idling). If you're sure the area immediately around you is clear of monsters, you should be fine. Monsters don't tend to wander to far from their spawn point.