A Victorian Supreme Court judge has excoriated Liberal Party members who lodged a “half-baked” and “fundamentally flawed” 11th-hour bid to block party funds being distributed to former leader John Pesutto to pay his $2.3 million defamation bill owed to a colleague.

Colleen Harkin, a member of the state division’s powerful administrative committee, took Liberal Party entity Vapold and its three directors to court on Thursday seeking to have a $1.55 million payment to Pesutto declared invalid and void.