Bali nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran will be able to pursue their next legal appeal, after it was confirmed they will be given a hearing in a Jakarta court on Thursday.
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The development is a welcome boost for the men and their lawyers and follows the decision on Friday by the Indonesian Attorney-General HM Prasetyo to postpone their executions.
The appeal will challenge President Joko Widodo's refusal to grant them clemency, arguing that he did not properly consider their application for mercy as required under the country's Clemency Act.
News of the latest appeal comes as Mr Joko continues to refuse Prime Minister Tony Abbott's requests to plead directly for the men's lives.
This week, Mr Abbott revealed he had requested a "final call" from Mr Joko but at 10.30am on Saturday there had still been no response from the presidential palace in Jakarta, his office said.
"[Mr Abbott] hasn't had that call yet but we continue to make representations at the highest level," a spokesman said on Saturday.
The new appeal will be the condemned men's second challenge to the clemency rejection. The first one failed after Jakarta's state administrative court ruled it had no jurisdiction over presidential decisions.
Indonesian law requires that the Indonesian leader must decide on a mercy application "after thoroughly considering the clemency application".
Lawyers for Chan and Sukumaran will rely heavily on the public statements of Mr Joko to press their case.
On December 9, Mr Joko told an audience at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University that he would reject all clemency petitions for drug felons.
"The clemency requests are not on my table yet. But I guarantee that there will be no clemency for convicts who committed narcotics-related crimes," he said.
Fairfax Media was told by a source familiar with the president's handling of the case that he made his decisions based on little more than a list of drug offenders on death row.
At the time, there were 64 clemency applications before the president involving drug felons. All were rebuffed, and six of those drug traffickers were killed on January 18.
Another 10 are slated to be killed in the next round of executions, including Chan and Sukumaran, who were arrested after organising the smuggling of more than eight kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia.
"We've been saying all along that what has to be done here is that the process should be respected and that the rule of law should be respected,"
- Michael O'Connell, SC
On Friday the Attorney-General's spokesman, Tony Spontana, said the delay in their execution was to complete preparations for execution on the penal island of Nusakambangan and allow legal appeals to proceed.
But the only legal case he mentioned was that of another of the condemned prisoners, Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, whose judicial review will be heard in the Supreme Court next week.
Mr Spontana said an announcement on the executions may not take place this month.
The latitude given for legal appeals to be heard marked a major turnaround because, previously, Mr Prasetyo said clemency rejections nullified any further legal appeals.
The backdown was welcomed by Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop and the men's lawyers as a good sign.
"We've been saying all along that what has to be done here is that the process should be respected and that the rule of law should be respected," said Michael O'Connell, SC.
"And the indications that we've had yesterday are encouraging because there does now appear to be some regard to those principles."
Given their previous application to the state administrative court was knocked back last month, it will be very difficult to persuade the court to change its mind, although the appeal is expected to be heard by a fresh set of judges.
But Indonesia's judicial commission - the body that oversees the probity of the country's judges - is also investigating Chan and Sukumaran's case amid allegations of requests for bribes during the original trial that saw them handed a death sentence.
The commission has formally begun its investigation and taken statements for Chan and Sukumaran, among others.
"The judicial commission, I think it should be pointed out, has an excellent reputation for independence and integrity. Its chair, Suparman, is very well regarded," Mr O'Connell told ABC Radio.
"And we're very hopeful that that investigation will be conducted properly and rigorously. And, indeed, it may take some time.
"So the timeframes involved here are very difficult to predict, particularly with respect to the judicial commission investigation."
- with Gareth Hutchens
