But in an appeal by convicted syndicate member Jan Visser, the Crown maintains they had no idea the tip to Victoria Police came from the gangland lawyer turned snitch so they couldn't have disclosed it to him.

Visser was jailed for 11 years over the import of 4.4 tonnes of ecstasy in the infamous 2007 tomato tins bust.

He's maintaining in his latest Victorian Court of Appeal hearing that he believed the shipment from Naples was illegal tobacco or "chop chop" and he was helping the syndicate avoid tax.

The bust - a world record haul at the time - was part of a joint operation between the Australian Federal Police and Customs, but the original tip came from Ms Gobbo via her Victoria Police handlers.

Justice Robert Osborn said on Wednesday that Visser was arguing the evidence was "fruit of the poisonous tree" and he could have asked for proceedings to be halted.

The discovery of the container was critical to charges against Visser, but it's argued it was stained with Ms Gobbo's impropriety in handing over documents that implicated one of her clients, Rob Karam, who was jailed for 35 years for his part in the plot.

"To take an extreme example - if the bill of lading had been procured by torture or something just so outrageous that the court couldn't tolerate it, you might get a stay," Justice Osborn said.

Rowena Orr QC, representing the AFP and Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, accepted on Wednesday that it was Ms Gobbo's tip that led to the container being detected, and there's no evidence it could have been found without it.

But she disputed that the evidence would have been thrown out at trial because of the seriousness of the offence and the lack of wrongdoing by the AFP investigators and prosecutors, who did not know that the tip had come from Ms Gobbo.

She also challenged the argument that it was wrong for Ms Gobbo to hand over the shipping documents.

They were not protected by the legal privilege Ms Gobbo owed to Karam as her client because they were not given to her in her professional capacity.

The documents were only given to Ms Gobbo for safekeeping by Karam, who did not want them in his possession in court that day, while fighting unrelated drug charges where he was acquitted.

Visser has argued three appeal grounds - that he was denied a fair trial which led to a miscarriage of justice, that the prosecution against him was malicious, and that he has fresh evidence in the form of statements from co-conspirators saying he didn't know the shipment contained drugs.

He says ultimately he, or at least prosecutors, should have been told of Ms Gobbo's involvement.

"It's not about innocence or guilt, it's about full disclosure," he said.

The judges have reserved their decision.

Australian Associated Press