The family of one of child-killer Derek Ernest Percy's suspected victims hopes a deathbed court hearing will bring the answers they have sought for decades.
Lawyers for the family of Linda Stilwell have requested the Victorian Coroners Court hold a hearing as soon as possible.
Percy, 64, is dying of cancer and has just days to live.
Victorian Premier Denis Napthine is among those who have called for the killer to reveal what he knows about the case.
AAP understands a request for the hearing was lodged with the court shortly before 5pm (AEST) on Wednesday.
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A Coroners Court spokeswoman was unable to confirm that the request had been made, but said that did not mean it had not.
An inquest into seven-year-old Linda's 1968 disappearance from the St Kilda foreshore was to resume later this year.
The family has long fought to call Percy as a witness.
Linda's brother Gary Stilwell said it was disappointing that their only hope now was a deathbed hearing given the inquest began in 2009.
"I'm really disappointed and angry with the coroner for the delay," he told AAP.
"Now we're placed in this sort of predicament where we're hoping he might say something in a deathbed confession. It's very disappointing."
After the coroner ruled in 2009 that Percy did not have to give evidence, the matter was appealed to the Supreme Court and then the Victorian Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Linda's mother Jean Priest in December last year.
Mr Stilwell hopes the deathbed hearing will bring the answers they are looking for.
"We want some answers and if it comes about through that process it would be good," he said.
"I would hope he would, but I wouldn't hold my breath. He has shown over a long period of time that he is very disciplined and he doesn't speak about things only he knows about."
Mr Stilwell said he has been told Percy is scared of dying.
"He has done horrendous things and he is about to meet his maker and he is obviously scared about what's going to happen," he said.
Dr Napthine said Percy should provide any information he has to police and allow victims' families to have some peace.
"I would urge Mr Percy if he has knowledge of any other crimes to do the right thing by people who have been affected by crimes and tell the truth so that people get some peace," he told reporters on Wednesday.
Percy was found not guilty on insanity grounds of the 1969 murder of Yvonne Tuohy, 12, who was snatched from Warneet Beach, southeast of Melbourne. He has been detained since.
Percy is a suspect in the unsolved murders of 15-year-olds Christine Sharrock and Marianne Schmidt on Sydney's Wanda Beach in 1965; six-year-old Alan Redston in Canberra in 1966; three-year-old Simon Brook in Sydney in 1968; and the disappearance of the three Beaumont children in Adelaide in 1966.
