April Fool's deadline for postcard bandit

Infamous bank robber and prison escapee Brenden Abbott should know by April Fool's Day whether he'll be granted parole in Queensland.

But Abbott, nicknamed the postcard bandit for taunting police while on the run, faces being extradited to Western Australia to face charges even if he's released from the Woodford Correctional Centre.

In January, the 53-year-old launched a challenge to the Queensland Parole Board's decision not to release him last year, claiming he'd been squeaky clean since 2005.

Brisbane Supreme Court Justice Jean Dalton recently set aside the parole board's decision, saying there was no evidence to support its classification of Abbott as a high-risk prisoner.

The move has forced the board to reconsider Abbott's application.

The case returned to court on Friday, with Justice Dalton ordering a final decision be made by April 1 unless there is a problem from either party.

The board will consider Abbott's updated application when it meets later on Friday and must deliver a preliminary decision by Wednesday.

Abbott has served 17 years of a 25-year sentence for a number of robberies and escapes.

He has spent most of the time in solitary confinement after escaping from jails in Queensland and Western Australia in the 1980s and '90s.

He said he had obeyed prison rules for more than a decade.

"For almost 11 years now I haven't had any breaches," he told the court on Friday.

In challenging the parole board's decision, Abbott said the fact WA police had indicated they would seek his extradition had influenced the decision not to release him.