After nearly three years of behind-the-scenes legal wrangling to avoid scrutiny from the Inquiry, the church applied for a judicial review in June.

At a hearing, held earlier this month it argued it was beyond the inquiry's scope because it did not operate institutions that cared for children or vulnerable people and the inquiry had uncovered no evidence of abuse in that context.

Lawyers representing the Inquiry argued that Jehovah's Witness elders - equivalent to ministers or pastors - exercised a level of control over the congregation that allowed them access to children. Read more