It was an extraordinary coterie of the most powerful men in the state who dined at the upmarket harbourside home of the "Mr Fixit" of the legal world on a May night almost 40 years ago.

The host was Morgan Ryan, 59, the lawyer for and the business partner of organised crime boss Abe Saffron.

None of those gathered that night could have known of the impending storm which would engulf them all. Ryan and all but one of his guests would face criminal charges. One of them would go to jail.

Ryan's all-male guests on the night of May 10, 1979, were then High Court justice Lionel Murphy, the NSW Police commissioner Merv "The Sculler" Wood, the chief stipendiary magistrate Murray Farquhar and Farquhar's successor Clarrie Briese.

The last guest – Briese – would be the key witness against Murphy at his later criminal trials for attempting to pervert to the course of justice.

On Monday, after 31 years, the nation's most enduring judicial scandal is set to be reignited when Federal Parliament releases top secret documents from a 1986 parliamentary commission of inquiry set up to determine Lionel Keith Murphy's fitness to sit as a judge on the highest court in the land. The "Class A" documents were approved for release by Speaker Tony Smith and Senate President Stephen Parry.

The inquiry, which was heard in-camera from May through to August, 1986, was halted when it was revealed that Murphy had terminal cancer. He died in October 1986, aged 64.

Murphy had endured two earlier parliamentary inquiries and two criminal trials. The first found him guilty and saw him sentenced to jail. He successfully appealed and was acquitted at his second trial.

Upon his acquittal, Murphy's determination to return to the High Court was not greeted enthusiastically by some of his fellow judges, who were rumoured to be threatening to boycott sitting with Murphy.

Facing a potential judicial crisis, the Hawke government ordered a secret inquiry to examine fresh allegations of misconduct on Murphy's part – that he had offered a bribe to federal police officer Don Thomas.

Also being examined by the parliamentary inquiry was a secret report produced by the Stewart Royal Commission into The Age tapes.

From 1976 through to late 1983 the NSW police had been running an illicit phone-tapping operation which targeted drug boss Bob Trimbole and underworld figures George Freeman and Saffron.

They were also tapping Ryan's phone. What they heard was astonishing. It appeared that corruption within the state had reached the very highest levels.

In early 1984, Melbourne's Age newspaper had published excerpts from the phone taps. The identities of Murphy and Ryan were soon revealed.

This secret volume of Justice Don Stewart's contained further damaging allegations including that Murphy and Morgan had pressed then NSW premier Neville Wran to appoint a mate to the Ethnic Affairs Commission.

As the group of men that May night as they enjoyed the view across the waters of Sydney Harbour from Ryan's home on the tip of Kurraba Point in Neutral Bay, an abode funded by a winning bet on Dream King in 1961, they were completely unaware that the NSW police knew all about their dinner plans.

In March, 1979, two months before the dinner, the police taps revealed Murphy asking Ryan about "this bloke [Briese]" who was replacing Farquhar. "Is he the right fellow?"

"Yes, you're going to dine with him."

"He's a good fellow, is he?" repeats Murphy, to which Ryan responds that Murphy would be able to assess Briese himself at the dinner but warns Murphy that they had "better not talk about it right now."

As Briese was later to testify, he felt the purpose of the dinner was to determine if he would be as "flexible" as his predecessor.

Rumours that Farquhar was bent were rife in the judiciary. The year prior to Ryan's dinner a photographer had snapped "The Chief", as Ryan referred to Farquhar, at the races with crime kingpin Freeman, and Dr Nick Paltos, who was later jailed for a drug importation.

Only days after Ryan's dinner, Farquhar was to sit on his last case – one which involved Ryan's clients.

Ryan had first come to the notice of police when his clients Roy Cessna and Timothy Milner were caught with a massive quantity of Indian hemp. Over the next few weeks police listened in as Ryan and Farquhar regularly talked on the phone about Cessna-Milner case. They also heard him discuss the case with Murphy.

The taps on Ryan's phone not only led them to Farquhar but also to Lionel Murphy and to the sickening realisation that their boss Commissioner Wood appeared to be part of a corrupt network.

Known as "the Sculler" because of his Olympic and Commonwealth Games gold medals in rowing, Wood was also heard on the phone talking to Ryan about the Cessna-Milner case. Wood later tried to get information from his police department.

Five days after the dinner, the head of the police prosecution department was shocked to receive a call from the police commissioner himself instructing him that he had spoken to Farquhar and that the Cessna-Milner case was to be heard summarily rather than by way of indictment. This guaranteed a lesser sentence.

That same day Farquhar moved the case to a court with no sound equipment. He gave Milner an 18-month sentence, of which he served only six, and Cessna received a $1000 fine.

The taps on Ryan's phone also led to Ryan's arrest in August 1981 over an immigration racket where he was accused of forging documents to allow 22 Koreans to gain residency. Conspiracy charges were later added.

In 1981 Ryan was heard ringing Murphy about this case.

This wasn't the first time Ryan had sought favours from his friend.

In 1974, while attorney-general, Murphy organised for the release of Ryan's client, suspected drug trafficker Ramon Sala, and the return of Sala's passport. Using the passport, which was a forgery, Sala left the country. The following year Ryan also spoke to Murphy about downgrading Customs surveillance on Saffron, which was achieved.

In late December 1982, after Ryan's committal hearing had started, Murphy rang Clarrie Briese, who was now the chief magistrate. Murphy said he wanted to talk to Briese, but not on the phone.

In early January 1983 Lionel and Ingrid Murphy dined at the Brieses' house during which Murphy raised the topic of conspiracy cases. He then allegedly said: "I'll tell you about another weak case of conspiracy too, and that's the Morgan Ryan case." The Ryan case concerned him, said Murphy. Briese offered to make inquiries.

At the end of January, Murphy rang Briese and they spoke at a legal function later that day. Briese told Murphy that it looked likely that magistrate Kevin Jones would commit Ryan to stand trial. Murphy allegedly said: "The little fellow will be shattered."

The following day, 28 January, Murphy is alleged to have uttered one of the most notorious lines in Australian judicial history when he said to Briese: "And now, what about my little mate."

Murphy's phone was not being tapped so there was no way of determining whether he had used those words. At his later criminal trial Murphy denied referring to Ryan as his "little mate".

Murphy's efforts to help Ryan didn't stop there. In April, after Ryan had been committed to stand trial, Murphy rang the chief judge of the District Court Jim Staunton to see if Ryan's trial could be expedited.

In July 1983, District Court judge Paul Flannery was listed to preside over Ryan's criminal trial. As Flannery's son-in-law, now retired District Court judge Stephen Walmsley, later wrote: "A few days before the trial began, out of the blue, Flannery received a phone call from Murphy inviting him to dinner. Paul and Rosemary Flannery went to dinner at the Murphys' Darling Point unit on the Saturday night before the trial began. They were the only guests.

"The trial was not mentioned, but a legal issue highly relevant to the Ryan case was raised by Murphy. Flannery said to Rosemary on the way home: 'He's trying to nobble me.'"

The bombshell of The Age tapes in early 1984 was the beginning of the end of Murphy's illustrious career. After two parliamentary inquiries, the DPP charged him with two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The two key witnesses in the trial of the High Court judge were the then chief magistrate, Clarrie Briese, and District Court judge Paul Flannery. The jury convicted Murphy of the Briese count but found him not guilty in relation to the Flannery matter.

Murphy's 18 months' jail sentence was put in abeyance while an appeal was heard.

A second trial was then held – only on the Briese count – and, on April 28, 1986, Murphy was found not guilty. At this trial Murphy gave an unsworn statement from the dock, a move which raised eyebrows in legal circles.

As to the other diners that fateful night in May, an anonymous dossier of allegations about commissioner Wood had been handed to parliament only days before the dinner. He resigned the following month. In August 1987, Wood was charged with perverting the course of justice over the Cessna-Milner affair but before his trial started the key witness died and the case did not proceed.

In March 1985, Farquhar was jailed for four years for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice over dismissing fraud charges against rugby league boss Kevin Humphreys.

After his release he beat a charge of receiving stolen artwork. At the time of Farquhar's death in 1993 he was on trial over stolen passports.

Ryan, now 96, was found guilty over the Korean immigration racket. On appeal, a new trial was ordered but it never took place. He was later beat a charge for knowingly giving false evidence to the 1985 Stewart Royal Commission into The Age tapes.

As for Murphy, his acquittal did not dispel the dark clouds of rumoured corruption which which forever tainted his reputation. He died before yet another parliamentary inquiry could hand down its finding.