Builders, consultants and insurers have an anxious few months ahead as they await the judgment of Victoria’s Supreme Court of Appeal, which last week wrapped up a long-awaited hearing into the liability rulings around combustible cladding on Melbourne’s Lacrosse building.

Justices David Beach, Kathryn Stynes and Robert Osborn last week heard the three-day appeal brought by architecture firm Elenberg Fraser, fire engineering consultancy Thomas Nicolas and building surveyor Gardner Group, seeking to overturn the 2019 judgment that hit them with over $12 million in damages for use of polyethylene-core panels on the tower.