Lawyers for Daniel Morcombe's convicted killer say they are "armed to the teeth" with legal arguments as to why Queensland's chief justice should be disqualified from deciding their appeal.
The application by Brett Peter Cowan's lawyers, who cite a perception of bias, was set down on Friday for hearing on May 26.
A preliminary hearing was set down for next Thursday to determine whether the application should be heard by Chief Justice Tim Carmody alone or the full bench.
At a directions hearing on Friday, Justice Carmody questioned whether Cowan's barrister, Peter Davis QC, could muster sufficient material to argue their case by the proposed deadline.
"Armed to the teeth, Your Honour" replied Mr Davis, who has been a vocal critic of Justice Carmody's controversial appointment.
"Good. You'll need to be," Justice Carmody replied.
Cowan was sentenced last year to life imprisonment with no parole for 20 years for the abduction and murder of 13-year-old schoolboy Daniel Morcombe.
An appeal in November was heard by Justice Carmody, Court of Appeal president Margaret McMurdo and Justice Hugh Fraser.
Cowan's lawyers lodged the application this week calling for the chief justice to be disqualified from Cowan's appeal for apprehended bias because of his relationship with child protection advocate Hetty Johnston.
Cowan's lawyers are expected to use statements by Ms Johnston speaking against Cowan's release to back their arguments.
"We're aware of what has been said, we're aware of what we need. It's just a matter of getting all sources of that material together," Cowan's lawyer Tim Meehan said outside court.
He agreed it was an unusual situation.
"It doesn't happen every day that you're asking a court to rule as to whether or not one of its judges can hear a matter because of apprehended bias."
Mr Meehan said that if the court finds there is apprehended bias, the appeal may need to be heard afresh by a differently constituted court.
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