Protesters will receive only an hour's notice about whether police will keep their expanded powers during Israeli President Isaac Herzog's contentious visit.
Protest organisers Palestine Action Group launched urgent legal action against the NSW government on Monday after it declared Mr Herzog's visit a major event.
The declaration granted police extra powers to bolster officer numbers, search anyone in the declared event area and prevent them from entering ahead of a planned rally at Sydney's Town Hall at 5.30pm.
Lawyers for the protesters told the NSW Supreme Court that the government's declaration was too broad and did not meet legal requirements because no participants or geographic area were specified.
The scope of police powers was illustrated in a hypothetical constructed by barrister Peter Lange SC.
"A stereotypical barrister might happen to be searched without a warrant because he happens to be in the eastern suburbs," he said.
"If he refuses to undergo a search ... he may be excluded from the area in which he resides."
However, the government's barrister Brendan Lim SC argued the scenario was not useful for adjudicating whether protesters were the intended target of the declaration.
"(It is) a distorting hypothetical that is of no assistance ... there is no attempt to focus on the consequences for the plaintiff," Mr Lim said.
He argued the declaration was not made to suppress Monday evening's protest but rather to relocate it to Hyde Park, where Palestine Action Group has conducted hundreds of rallies.
Evidence suggests that separating protesters from mourners and the Israeli president was the motivation, Justice Robertson Wright noted.
He is expected to hand down his decision about the legality of the major event declaration before 5pm.
The NSW government passed laws following December's Bondi Beach terror attack which restricted protections typically granted to authorised protests.
Those temporary powers - which can be extended for up to three months after a terror event - were fortified by the major event declaration announced on Saturday.
"The next time (NSW Premier) Chris Minns complains about protesters apparently being disruptive to our city, let's look at the lengths the premier has gone to to roll out the red carpet for someone accused of genocide,” Palestine Action Group spokesperson Josh Lees said.
But Mr Minns said the declaration had been mischaracterised.
“The bottom line here is we've got an international visitor who's been invited by the commonwealth government," he said.
"Reasonable people expect us to keep him safe and to keep the community safe."
The premier incorrectly claimed the major events powers had previously been used when Sydney hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2007.
The laws were not implemented until 2009, with separate specific legislation developed for the APEC event.
Mr Herzog's role is largely ceremonial, but he has sparked outrage for being photographed signing an Israeli artillery shell.
A United Nations inquiry found his comments after the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 - in which he described Palestinians as an "entire nation out there that is responsible" - to reasonably be interpreted as incitement for genocide.
Rallies against Mr Herzog's visit are scheduled across Australia on Monday evening.
Anyone who fails to comply with NSW police directions will face penalties that include fines of up to $5500.
