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Q&A confusion: Heartbreaking moment appeal offers 'false hope' for Bali 9 duo's friends

An ABC audience was left shocked and somewhat confused when a debate about Indonesia's imminent executions was suddenly interrupted by news the condemned Bali Nine pair had won an apparent last-minute reprieve.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are just hours away from execution, but breaking news during last night's ABC broadcast appeared to raise a fresh glimmer of hope for the condemned men.

"I'm sorry to interrupt you here, and it may be news you want to hear, and it certainly will be but we're just getting reports and it's coming up on the Autocue here," said host Tony Jones.

"Indonesia's Constitutional Court has agreed to consider a last-ditch legal challenge brought by the Bali Nine pair, the Court agrees to hear the case on May 12."


The audience, comprising guests, viewers and two of Sukumaran's friends, was plunged into a cloud of confusion.

They erupted into applause as the young friend of Sukumaran painfully asked for clarity.

“That’s wonderful news but does that mean they are not going to go ahead with tomorrow? Is that what it means? Because no one's talking to the family,” she asked.

“They had a harrowing day, delayed for three and a half hours, only allowed to see the boys for five hours. Does that mean that they're not going to go ahead with the...?”

Friends of Myuran Sukumaran asked a question about corruption in Indonesia when the news broke. Photo: ABC

Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos responded: "Well I would assume so given the news that we've just been told."

But deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek erred on the side of caution.

"I'm sorry Tony, just having read that on the Autocue I think we have to be very careful, we don't know the full range of information, we might hear updates through the course of the show or afterwards," Plibersek said.

It's understood Indonesia had already stated that the Constitutional Court appeal would not change their decision to execute Chan and Sukumaran.

Plibersek has urged the Indonesian government to spare the lives of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. Photo: ABC

Meanwhile, the Chan and Sukumaran families are preparing to say their final goodbyes to their sons and brothers, before Indonesia carries out the ultimate punishment for a decade-old crime.

Indonesia's Attorney-General HM Prasetyo won't confirm what time the Australians and seven others will go to the firing squad.

It is understood the families have been told to say their last goodbyes by 2pm on Tuesday (5pm AEST) before the executions are carried out on Nusakambangan island, Central Java, after midnight.

Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 34, have quietly reformed themselves since their involvement in the foiled Bali Nine plot to smuggle heroin from Indonesia in 2005.

Australians Scott Rush and Andrew Chan talk through the bars to consulate staff. Photo: AP

But pleas to spare the men - Chan now a pastor and Sukumaran a talented artist - continue to fall on deaf ears.

On Monday, an ex-lawyer for the pair detailed sensational bribery claims, alleging judges in their original trial wanted more than $130,000 for a lighter sentence.

Their current lawyers say it's unthinkable for the men to be executed under the cloud of corruption.

They also have a challenge in the constitutional court set for a preliminary hearing next month, but its decision will not be retrospective.

The only man they need to convince, President Joko Widodo, was not receptive on Monday.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran await the firing squad after repeated pleas for mercy are rejected. Photo: AP


"Why not convey it at the time, when it actually happened if ... it truly happened, right?" he said of the bribery claims.

Security has tightened at the port town of Cilacap and the coffins have been prepared for nine prisoners' bodies.

But one of the Australians' lawyers, Michael O'Connell SC, says the momentum can be easily stopped.

"Whilst it's very frightening to see the machinery of execution being put into place, it's worth remembering that stopping this is really just the stroke of a pen away," he told ABC's Lateline program.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says she also hasn't finished fighting for the men.

"Indonesia has accomplished what penal systems around the world aspire to do and that is rehabilitate drug offenders," she said in a speech in Sydney on Monday night.

Suhendro Putro prepared coffins and bodies from executions at Nusakambang in January. Photo: AAP

"I'm not asking the Indonesian government to do anything other than it asks other countries in relation to Indonesian citizens."

Sukumaran has spent his last days painting, with the latest work, "The Second Last Day" a self-portrait of him looking skyward.

In a bittersweet day for the Chans, Andrew Chan married his fiancee Feby Herewila on Monday, in a small prison ceremony officiated by Salvation Army minister Dave Soper.


Chan has also chosen him as his companion as he goes to his death, while Sukumaran will have his friend Reverend Christie Buckingham for solace.

They will be placed in isolation in the hours before they are taken to a firing ground, where their hands will be bound to a post and they will be given the option of standing, sitting or kneeling before the firing squad.