A Victorian judge is set to be brought to the ACT to preside over the former director of public prosecution's legal action against an inquiry that made damning findings about his conduct.
Representative parties present in the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday heard that no local judge would hear the case.
"[Chief Justice Lucy McCallum] formed the view that it would not be appropriate for any resident judge of this court to hear these proceedings and will accordingly seek a judge from another jurisdiction," an email read out in court stated.
"To avoid any negative conflict of interest for our resident judges."
Supreme Court registrar Jayne Reece said Victoria's Justice Stephen Kaye would be appointed as an acting justice in the territory.
Shane Drumgold SC, who resigned as director of public prosecutions after being slammed over his conduct in the case against former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann, launched legal action last month.
His originating application seeks judicial review of the board of inquiry report written by chairman Walter Sofronoff KC.
Mr Drumgold is seeking the entire report be quashed or, alternatively, that the conclusions made in relation to him be declared invalid.
"Canberra is a very small community and obviously Mr Drumgold is known to me," Ms Reece said at the beginning of proceedings on Thursday.
The registrar stated she was "only doing directions" and did not believe her involvement to be an issue.
The court also heard the former top prosecutor had withdrawn legal action against Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury.
Ms Reece said Mr Drumgold's notice of discontinuance was "accepted and filed".
"The second defendant [Shane Rattenbury] is no longer in the proceedings," Ms Reece said.
Mr Drumgold had initially applied for restraining orders or an injunction to prevent Mr Rattenbury from taking any action against him on the basis of the inquiry report.
Ms Reece ordered for Mr Drumgold's amended originating application to be filed by Friday.
The case may not be heard until next year and will depend on the availability of Justice Kaye, among other factors.
"It's a little bit up in the air," the registrar said.
The judge may not be appointed for "some weeks", with parties told the process would be complicated.
The case is estimated to take two days but Dan O'Gorman SC, representing Mr Drumgold, said that timeframe may not be sufficient if factual issues were in dispute.
The trial against Bruce Lerhmann was aborted last year because of juror misconduct, with the charge levelled at the former Liberal staffer, who maintains his innocence, later discontinued over fears for Brittany Higgins' mental health.
The case was adjourned for a week.
