Voters in Western Australia will find out on Tuesday if they are to return to the polls for a second Senate election.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has confirmed that High Court Justice Kenneth Hayne will hand down his decision in the Court of Disputed Returns this week.

“The AEC has been advised that Justice Hayne will be handing down a decision on the petitions on Tuesday 18 February 2014 in Melbourne at 12 noon,” AEC spokesman Phil Diak told AAP on Saturday.

The commonwealth auditor-general had warned the commission at least four years ago about the flaws which led to 1370 votes going missing in the 2013 election.

The AEC has apologised for the debacle and called for the entire Senate election to be declared void and held again.

One of its arguments is that 1370 voters whose ballots were lost in between the initial scrutiny and a recount have been denied the chance to vote. The recount was requested, rejected, then granted upon appeal.

The first count delivered the final two WA Senate places to Zhenya Wang of the Palmer United Party (PUP) and Labor’s Louise Pratt.

After a recount the candidates elected to the fifth and sixth Senate positions were the Australian Sports Party’s Wayne Dropulich and Greens Senator Scott Ludlam.

Lawyers for the ALP and Mr Wang are calling for the first result to be upheld.