The owners are suing the Master Builders Fidelity Fund in a bid to end years of legal battles and building disputes over the 120-home development in Bruce.

The owners corporation has been forced to pursue compensation through the insurance scheme after the project's builder, B&T; Constructions Pty Ltd, was placed in liquidation.

The fidelity fund was established in 2002 to provide consumer protection against incomplete construction work. Property owners can make a claim due to a builder's insolvency, disappearance or death.

Compensation is capped at $85,000 per apartment.

The owners have estimated the damage bill at Elara at $20 million.

At a court hearing on Tuesday, lawyers for the fidelity fund said the owners' right to seek compensation through the fund had expired long before they made their claim, which followed B&T; Constructions Pty Ltd's collapse in July 2017.

"The scheme was set up with a clear five-year limitation," lawyers from legal firm JS O'Connor Harris & Co told the court.

In response, lawyers from Kerin Benson Lawyers, acting for the owners, said their clients were eligible to access the fund because they had exhausted all of their legal avenues for compensation.

Until the firm's collapse, the owners and the builder had been locked in Supreme Court proceedings amid allegations that poor building work had resulted in defects to the Thyne Street complex's common areas, walls, slabs, beams, balconies and utility services.

At Tuesday's hearing, it was revealed the builder owned 33 of the complex's 120 units.

A judgment is expected to be handed down in early 2019.