Police are still refusing to give prosecutors access to secret new material casting further suspicion on the Calabrian mafia for the assassination of ACT police chief Colin Stanley Winchester.
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David Eastman's case came back before the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday, two weeks after a judge gave police the all-clear to hand over sensitive mafia-related documents to prosecutors.
The Director of Public Prosecutions is seeking the material as it decides whether to try Eastman, freed in late August, for a second time over Mr Winchester's killing.
Eastman has filed a "no bill" application to try to force the DPP to discontinue the charges, the court heard on Tuesday.
But the court heard that the DPP's decision on whether to try Eastman again may not even be made by December.
"The director's very aware of the importance of making a decision as quickly as possible, but there's a lot of material to consider," prosecutor Margaret Jones said.
The DPP said it was still being hampered by the reluctance of police to give them access to the new secret mafia material, which is said to cast renewed suspicion on Calabrian organised crime figures for the 1989 murder.
That's despite Justice Steven Rares last month clarifying that the court had placed no legal barriers preventing police giving the DPP access.
The AFP has already been slammed over its failure to properly investigate the new mafia claims, which are said to take the possibility of organised crime involvement higher than the mere speculation that existed at Eastman's 1995 trial.
The new evidence is highly sensitive, and could threaten the life of an informant if publicly released.
Prosecutors said on Tuesday that they may need to return to court in their bid to gain access to the material.
"We are hopeful we can resolve the difficulties in the barriers that they see in providing the material to us," Ms Jones said.
Ms Jones also told Chief Justice Helen Murrell she would be able to provide an "update" to the court in December on how the DPP was progressing with its decision on whether to try Eastman again.
"I can't say we're hoping to have a decision by then, but I can say we'll have an update," she said.
The delays have frustrated Eastman's lawyer, Legal Aid ACT CEO John Boersig, who said the DPP should already be well aware of the issues involved in the case.
"From my point of view, the matters have been exhausted... and my client is very keen to see this matter brought to rest," he said.
Chief Justice Murrell said the matter will come back before court in December, and, if a decision has not been made, she'll consider dispensing with Eastman's bail conditions.
The case will also come back before the court on Friday, to see whether police have granted the DPP access to the confidential material.
The DPP declined to tell the court whether it is engaging an independent party to provide advice on the feasibility of a retrial of Eastman.
