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onvicted drug smugglers Andrew Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 33, two Australians known as ringleaders of the so-called Bali Nine drug ring, remain hopeful that the legal process underway at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) will spare them their lives.

'€œThey are still hoping. They are waiting and hoping,'€ Melbourne-based lawyer Michael O'€™Connell announced after visiting his clients at Kerobokan Penitentiary in Bali on Thursday.

O'€™Connell said that the pair had expressed gratitude for the depth of support shown to them in recent weeks.

'€œThey are humbled by the support that has been coming from Australia and to some extent in Indonesia as well. They are very grateful for it and are simply waiting and hoping,'€ O'€™Connell said.

'€œAndrew and Myuran are very concerned that people remain respectful when they make representations on their behalf. And of course, they want that representation made firmly,'€ O'€™Connell said.

The pair'€™s Indonesian legal team, led by star lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, has filed a lawsuit challenging the presidential decree rejecting Chan and Sukumaran'€™s request for clemency. The lawsuit accuses President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo of making the rejection without diligently assessing the pair'€™s case, instead issuing a blanket ban on clemency for death-row drug offenders.

A preliminary hearing is due to be conducted on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at the Jakarta PTUN.

'€œThey are doing remarkably well given the circumstances they are in at the moment. I think that'€™s a measure of the rehabilitation they have undergone over the last 10 years. It is an extraordinary situation and they are bearing it extremely well,'€ O'€™Connell said.

Both Sukumaran and Chan were sentenced to death for trying to smuggle about 8 kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005. After a request for a second case review was rejected by the Denpasar District Court, the pair faces execution that could happen any day. The second review was lodged after the pair'€™s clemency pleas were officially rejected by President Jokowi.

The Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) has announced that the execution will be conducted at Nusakambangan prison island simultaneously with other death-row convicts. However, no date has been set. The AGO also officially announced on Tuesday that the transfer of the duo to Nusakambangan, which sits offshore near Cilacap, West Java, would be delayed. However, preparation for the transfer is apparently still underway in Bali.

On Wednesday, the Bali Police chief arrived at the prison to help coordinate the relocation. '€œI don'€™t know when they will be moved. But the Bali Prosecutor'€™s Office head will also come Friday to coordinate,'€ Kerobokan prison warden Sudjonggo said on Thursday.