Faye Leveson says she knows in her heart who is responsible for the death of her son Matthew, regardless of the outcome of a long-running inquest.
A coroner on Tuesday heard final submissions at the Sydney inquest, which began in December 2015 and this year led to their discovery of Matthew Leveson's remains.
Deputy State Coroner Elaine Truscott has now reserved her findings into the death, and the Levesons say they're hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
"It's upsetting, I know we'll probably get an open finding, but ... we've been knocked down that many times I'm not expecting things to go our way," Ms Leveson told reporters outside Glebe Coroner's Court.
"The main thing was that we did find Matt, we got him back.
"If we get an open finding, we'll have to just live with that, but we know in our hearts who was responsible for it."
Mr Leveson, 20, was last seen leaving Darlinghurst's ARQ nightclub with his boyfriend, Michael Atkins, in September 2007.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Tim Game SC, on Tuesday told the inquest there was no compelling evidence that Mr Leveson was killed by Atkins before the older man buried his body in the Royal National Park.
The 54-year-old long denied any knowledge of Mr Leveson's whereabouts, but this year he led police to his boyfriend's remains after striking a deal to avoid contempt of court and perjury charges.
Police offered him protection from the charges, in exchange for leading them to the body, after he admitted to lying during the police investigation and while giving evidence to the inquest.
Mr Leveson's parents believe Atkins killed their son, possibly by strangulation or smothering.
But Mr Game told the inquest on Tuesday there was "ultimately no reliable objective evidence" as to the manner and cause of Mr Leveson's death, and submitted that the coroner should make an open finding.
He also said there wasn't sufficient evidence to point to a second person being involved in the disposal of Mr Leveson's body, despite evidence about how difficult it would have been for one person to carry him.
Atkins last year said he decided to bury Mr Leveson in bushland south of Sydney after finding him dead from a drug overdose the morning after they went to ARQ nightclub.
In a police statement, he claimed he was worried about his reputation and thought "the problem would all go away" if he buried the body.
"I thought I could bury the body and nobody would know. I thought it would make it all better," he said last year.
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