The Dunedin Courthouse Task Force has been set up following a Dunedin City Council decision to fight for the historic building.
Featuring prominent Dunedin figures including Dunedin Mayor Dave Cull, engineer Lou Robinson and University of Otago faculty of law dean Prof Mark Henaghan, the task force's goal is to mobilise the public to support the courthouse, while providing expertise to decipher the engineering and costing issues surrounding the building's future.
Engineering reports in 2011 said parts of the historic courthouse complex were earthquake-prone.
The Ministry of Justice decided to move services to a temporary building while it developed a business plan on what strengthening was needed and the cost.
That business plan was to be delivered to Justice Minister Amy Adams by the end of this month.
But with a price tag now exceeding $10 million - up from initial estimates of $2.5 million - coupled with the $6.8 million fit-out of the temporary High St building and the $600,000-a-year cost of the city's rent-a-court facilities, it is feared the ministry has no intention of returning services to the building.
Those fears have not been allayed by Mrs Adams' refusal to commit to returning court services to the complex.
Mrs Adams has said it is her ''intention'' services will return, but that decision hinges on the business plan, and what Cabinet makes of the associated costs.
City councillor David Benson-Pope said the ''secrecy and confused process that's been followed [by the ministry] to this point'' was something the task force would like to improve.
''Frankly, it's been very hard to explain or understand, and there's been a lot of ducking and weaving by the Government.''
The task force would use its clout and expertise to try to improve that information flow.
The eight-strong team represented many different networks and the initial job would be to activate those networks and ''mobilise a public response''.
University of Otago faculty of law dean Prof Mark Henaghan, who last month wrote to the faculty's alumni about the courthouse's fate, said he was still getting support daily ''from people from all over the world''.
He hoped the pressure and publicity the task force generated would convince ''whoever makes the decision to understand the significance of the building, and put in the required resources''.
Cr Benson-Pope said the historic courthouse's plight had proven unusual, in that he had yet to find anyone who thought it should not be saved.
The task force was seeking feedback from anyone who had ideas on how to get the Government to respond to Dunedin's stand on the courthouse.