High Court to determine Gerard Baden-Clay's fate

Australia's highest court is to announce if a legal bid to reinstate Gerard Baden-Clay's murder conviction will go ahead.

The High Court of Australia will decide on Thursday if it will allow the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions to appeal Baden-Clay's downgraded conviction of manslaughter.

The matter is listed for 9.45am in Canberra, with the court to hand down one of three decisions.

Firstly, it could grant special leave to appeal or refer the matter to the Full Bench.

Alternatively, the leave to appeal could be dismissed and the decision of Queensland's Court of Appeal left to stand.

However the court may also order the matter to proceed to oral argument at a hearing in which each side gets 20 minutes to put forward their case about the application.

The DPP applied to appeal Baden-Clay's manslaughter conviction following community outrage over his reduced culpability in the death of his wife Allison in April 2012.

Baden-Clay was convicted of her murder in 2014 but that was downgraded to manslaughter last year after his lawyers argued he could have unintentionally killed his wife.