Four witnesses have been recalled to give evidence before a coronial inquest into the drowning deaths of five asylum seekers.
The decision by Northern Territory Coroner Greg Cavanagh to recall the naval personnel came on Tuesday after Seaman Matthew Pierce told the inquest fuel containers were on the deck of SIEV 36 - the wooden asylum seeker boat that exploded in April last year.
Five Afghan men died, and another 40 people were injured, when the boat caught fire and exploded while under the control of the Australian navy.
At an earlier hearing, the inquest was told the failure of naval officers to identify and secure unleaded fuel on the boat contributed to the explosion.
Seaman Pierce, a naval scribe on SIEV 36, was responsible for sketching the layout of the boat which showed about five 20 litre fuel containers located directly outside the coach house.
But the commonwealth's counsel complained following his evidence, saying earlier witnesses had not been questioned about the containers.
Mr Cavanagh said his counsel, as well as lawyers acting on behalf of the Australian Defence Force, had known about the sketch for months.
But he ordered the witnesses to return to court to undergo further questioning and, in a bid to stop them conferring, suppressed information about the fuel containers until their court appearance.
On Wednesday morning, Chief Petty Officer Shane McCallum, Leading Seaman Paul Heatherington, Able Seaman Thomas Gallant and Able Seaman Christopher Saville returned to court.
All four said they had not seen any such containers on the deck at the front of the coach house.
They said something would have been done to secure the containers and to ascertain what was inside them had they known they were there.
But the personnel, who were asked to view a photograph of SIEV 36 when it was first detected in Australian waters, conceded the image showed the containers were present.
Peter Hanks, QC, acting on behalf of the ADF, tendered several more photographs taken from the same source, which could not not confirm or exclude the alleged presence of the containers.
Mr Cavanagh said about three white containers could be seen at the front of the coach house near were the food was stored, and that they probably contained water.
"I'm not suggesting anything sinister," he told Mr Hanks, before lifting the suppression order.
The inquest continues.
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