The executions of two Australians in Indonesia could be delayed for weeks, after one of the people due to face the firing squad with them had his court appeal adjourned until later this month.

Indonesia previously indicated the next round of executions, which include Bali Nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, was being delayed until all legal avenues of appeal had been exhausted.

Lawyers for Chan and Sukumaran will appear in the state administrative court today in the hope of securing a full hearing designed to force the president reconsider their request for clemency.

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The action is an appeal against a decision of the same court last month which ruled it did not have the authority to hear Chan and Sukumaran’s challenge against the president’s right to give or refuse clemency.

But the lawyers were hopeful the adjournment for Frenchman Serje Areski Atlaoui might be another reprieve for the Australians.

The Indonesian government has been giving mixed messages about whether Chan and Sukumaran might benefit from the legal delays of other inmates if they were all due to face the firing squad together.

The attorney-general’s spokesman, Tony Spontana, last night told one media organisation that the group would not be split up and executed at different times, but told the ABC, “We’ll see”.

It all adds to the uncertainty, confusion and ultimately to the distress caused to the families of those on death row.

Australia offers to pay prison costs if lives spared

Sukumaran’s brother, Chintu, has been interviewed on Indonesian television, which has largely been on the side of the government.

He said he was willing to see his brother spend the rest of his life behind bars if it meant he was allowed to stay alive.

“He committed a crime and he deserves to be punished, and the family is sorry for that,” he said.

“We accept that he must be punished, we just don’t want him to be executed. We want him to stay in prison and continue to help people.

“We don’t ask that he goes free, we just ask that he stay in prison and be allowed to continue to help people.”

The Federal Government has offered to pay the cost of life imprisonment in Indonesia for Chan and Sukumaran should their lives be spared by president Joko Widodo.

It has been revealed the Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop, wrote to her Indonesian counterpart a week ago making the offer, should Australia’s other requests for clemency or a prisoner swap be rejected.

– ABC