Roberts was jailed for life over the 1998 murders of Sergeant Gary Silk and Senior Constable Rodney Miller in Melbourne but maintained his innocence.

His lawyer Peter Matthews said the application for leave to appeal was ready to go ahead on grounds from anti-corruption watchdog hearings into the killings.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission probed serious misconduct allegations against Victoria Police officers who investigated the case.

However, Mr Matthews said he was waiting to hear from Victoria Police whether disgraced criminal barrister Nicola Gobbo passed information on about Roberts to officers.

He was also seeking a "voluminous" forensic file about the killings because of potentially significant issues with the science relied on at the time of the trial.

But Justice Robert Osborn was eager to move the matter forward.

He said they did not wish to drag the matter on indefinitely and there could potentially be other applications.

"You're not precluded from further applications but you can't run a lame duck application and then have another go of it," the justice said.

The application for leave to appeal will be heard on February 10.

Australian Associated Press