John Edward Ibbotson, then with the Director of Public Prosecutions, also recently told Fairfax Media he believed Eastman would "always bear a grudge" against those involved in the case.

Mr Ibbotson was responsible for marshalling the forensic evidence for the trial, which was used to prove a crucial link between gunshot residue found in Eastman's Mazda boot and at the scene of Colin Winchester's murder.

That evidence, provided by Victorian-based expert Robert Collins Barnes, was all but demolished at the recent Eastman inquiry.

In some cases, the inquiry found Mr Barnes had simply made results up, mixed up crucial exhibits, and made a litany of other errors.

Mr Barnes' independence as a witness came into serious question, and the reliability, and veracity of his work were found to be "deeply flawed".

The prosecution themselves came under fire from inquiry head Acting Justice Brian Martin for not properly disclosing all they knew about Mr Barnes and his evidence to Eastman's defence team.

If the defence had known of the flaws with Mr Barnes, a critical piece of the circumstantial case against Eastman would have fallen away.

"The failure by the DPP was inadvertent, but it was a failure with respect to a fundamental feature of a fair trial which left the defence without knowledge of material relevant to the forensic evidence at the heart of the prosecution case," Acting Justice Martin wrote in his report.

But Mr Ibbotson said that, even if you stripped away the forensics, there was still a strong case against Eastman.

That, he said, included evidence linking Eastman to the murder weapon, a motive, and identification.

"You could have run that trial without the gun residue and I'm sure you would have got a conviction," he said.

But Mr Ibbotson said he respected the findings of Acting Justice Martin, and said Eastman had been afforded due process.

"The umpire's made a decision and I respect that," he said.

"I mightn't agree with it and I might have views about the way it came about, but at the end of the day I have to accept that and if Mr Eastman gets released in accordance with that result, then so be it."

He said his team did everything they could.

Asked how he'd react to a release of Eastman, Mr Ibbotson responded:

"Good luck to everybody," he said.

"I would find it extremely unsettling."