Member Paul Hogan launched a legal challenge in the Supreme Court after Tattersall's male members historically voted to allow women to join the 154-year-old club.

The vote was 1405 in favour to 1368 against, with just 37 votes separating them.

A crucial element of the civil case rests on the way envelopes for the ballot were marked before they were sent out for members.

Barrister Nicholas Ferrett QC argued the court should intervene because the committee did not follow its own rules and print membership numbers on ballot envelopes, rather than requiring members to write the numbers themselves, which he said allowed a greater opportunity for errors.

But barrister Damien O'Brien QC, acting for two of the respondents, said every member had the opportunity to vote and it was only a minor variation of the rules.

“This is not a case where at the time at which the ballot was sent out, that some people were missed off the list,” he said.

“The case that’s put against us is that we simply did not comply with the rules.”

Mr Ferrett said there were 96 envelopes that had not been marked with a member number or marked illegibly, 14 votes excluded because they were duplicates and 61 excluded after they were marked with a tick instead of a cross.

It has previously been reported that 242 votes were counted as informal.

Mr Ferrett said he was not accusing the club's committee of acting dishonestly, just of not reading and applying the rules.

Mr O’Brien said Mr Hogan, who brought the action, was not arguing he had suffered any loss and therefore the Supreme Court should not intervene in the affairs of a private social club.

"Mr Hogan does not put on any evidence that somehow his reputation, the way in which he enjoys the club is affected," he said.

"That he will be deprived of access to the facilities or other privileges of the club."

Judge Glenn Martin said he would provide a decision in the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, club president Stuart Fraser said Tattersall's had received more applications for membership when it opened in the second week of January 2019 than it had during the whole of 2018.

"Members' spouses and daughters have embraced the family membership model," he wrote in an email to members on the eve of the court hearing.

Mr Fraser said with member demand at "historically high levels", the committee was considering reviewing criteria to require additional referees and a face-to-face interview.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk last year lambasted the club for continuing to deny membership to women, despite Queensland having a female Premier, Deputy Premier, Opposition Leader and Chief Justice.

The club, which opened in 1865, had previously issued honorary membership invitations to male MPs and ministers, but the tradition was upended upon the election of the Palaszczuk government.