It's been 10 years since police informer Terence Hodson and his wife were shot dead in their Melbourne home.
And for the entire decade, their killers have escaped justice.
But from Monday, an inquest will start looking for answers into who killed the couple and if they should have been better protected.
Mr Hodson had been due to give evidence against former drug squad detective Paul Dale when he was killed, and his family suspect police corruption or a cover-up played a role in the execution-style killings.
In announcing the inquest last November, Victorian State Coroner Judge Ian Gray said he would focus on the identity of the killers, as well as the adequacy of the protection afforded to the Hodsons.
"It is beyond suspicions the Hodsons were victims of homicide - in all probability, they were victims of murder," he said.
"There has understandably been intense public interest."
However, the inquest will not be a probe of the entire witness protection system, Judge Gray said.
Mr Dale and another man were charged in April 2009 over the double killings.
Gangland figure Carl Williams emerged as a key player leading to those charges, telling police the detective asked him to hire a hitman to kill Mr Hodson for $150,000, according to a police statement tendered in the trial against Williams' killer.
The murder charges against Dale and the second man were abandoned when Williams was murdered in prison in April 2010.
Police publicly cleared Mr Dale of any involvement in the prison murder but still describe him as a "person of interest" in the Hodson case.
Mr Dale has always maintained his innocence.
The five-day inquest will begin on Monday.
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