Cabinet must now decide whether it will proceed with the Order in Council or not. If it does it may choose to postpone the date at which the order comes into force until after the late November hearing which is expected to take three to four days.
The court will consider Cabinet's response when it resumes at 1pm this afternoon.
The Maori Council and Pouakani are represented by Felix Geiringer Helen Cull QC Annette Sykes and Kath Ertel while Mr Goddard is being assisted by Crown Law's Jason Gough.
Mr Geiringer and his colleagues are arguing that the Crown has failed to implement mechanisms that will protect claimed Maori interests in freshwater and geothermal resources and that because its actions are inconsistent with the Treaty of Waitangi as required under Section 9 of the State-owned enterprises Act, its actions under the act furthering the sale are unlawful. The council statement of claim also says that the "defective consultation" makes the sale unlawful.
If the Maori Council is successful, the court will issue a declaration that the Government ought not to proceed - the courts do not issue injunctions against the actual Crown.
It is also possible the court could decide that transferring the bill from the coverage of one act to another is not prejudicial to the Maori Council.
There will be other steps in the sale process that could trigger successful litigation. But since the Government itself has signalled the transfer as a major milestone, the Crown lawyers may not push that argument.
Prime Minister John Key this morning said people should "brace themselves" for a protracted court process over the sale of state-owned enterprise shares.
My Key said in all likelihood ''it will not just go to the High Court - I imagine it will go to the Court of Appeal and potentially the Supreme Court."
He also hoped the courts would consider the Government's programme.
"The courts are likely and will hopefully have a mind to the Government's programme which is we want to bring Might River Power to the market in an early as March next year.
"Hopefully they will put a bit of urgency around the hearing of the applications to the courts."
Mr Key said the Government had received advice about possibly speeding up the sales process.
But in was practice that when a Government had a timetable "the courts are likely to want to accommodate that timetable.''
The story so far
Jan: Govt faces outcry from Maori at prospect that a Treaty of Waitangi clause might not apply to partially privatised companies. After hui, Govt says Treaty clause would stay but would apply to Govt, not private shareholders.
Feb: Maori Council with 10 iwi and hapu file claim with Waitangi Tribunal that sale would affect interests in water and geothermal resources.
Aug: Tribunal interim report agrees with claim, and suggests "shares plus" solution to give iwi stake and governance role in SOEs.
Sep: Govt announces delay in sales from late 2012 and plans hui to strengthen legal position.
Oct 15: Govt rejects "shares plus" after hui and says it will proceed with plans to sell.
Oct 19: Maori Council files High Court bid to halt sale.
