With her sister free, Mercedes Corby walks into a fresh legal battle

After battling for so long to free her convicted drug smuggler sister Schapelle, Mercedes Corby will fly back home to Australia and into another fight: against her former best friend Trudy Todd.

Mercedes and former professional surfer Todd joined forces in 2016 to open a Gold Coast bar venture and tapas eatery, Laneway Bar and Dining.

They had been lifelong surfing mates.

Mercedes had moved back to Australia in 2015, after spending more than a decade living in Bali, with her now ex-husband Wayan Widyartha and their three children, to be closer to Schapelle as she served out her sentence for smuggling drugs into the country, reports news.com.au.

"I didn't initially have the option of coming home, because I was fighting to clear our family's name and look after Schapelle," Mercedes told Woman's Day in 2016.

But by 2015 she had reached a point where she was able to leave her sister's side, and start something of her own back at home.

"There will always be a shadow over our family, but I'm tired, and as much as I'd love to continue to fight for her, it's time to move on and try and put it behind us," she said.

Laneway was to be a new start, for both Mercedes who had moved home after separating from her husband, and, she hoped, for her sister when she was finally released.

"She will come and sit here and drink beer, probably," Mercedes said of in 2016 or whether Schapelle might find work at the bar to help get her back on her feet after her release from a Balinese jail and deportation back to Australia.

"No, we don't really talk about that stuff. We'll wait and see what happens."

The dream lasted less than a year. Laneway Bar opened in mid-2016. It closed abruptly in January.

Rumours of a bitter bust-up quickly surfaced. Todd's and Mercedes' friendship - celebrated on Laneway Bar's opening night with images of the pair toasting their business in delight - had soured.

As had Laneway Bar's fortunes as debts mounted and supplies were cut.

Mercedes wept as workmen removed furnishings from the tapas bar, according to the Gold Coast Bulletin, as the feud rumours swirled.

"I'm going to be in debt for a long time," she said.

Police filed an apprehended violence order against Mercedes on behalf of Todd in January, with Mercedes indicating she would fight it.

By February, there were reports police had been called to a dispute over a luxury car - an Audi coupe - linked to the business, amid claims and counterclaims of threats between the Mercedes and Todd camps, according to The Courier Mail.

On March 13, in a Tweeds Head court, Corby asked for extra time to prepare for the court showdown against Todd so she could be in Bali this week for Schapelle's parole release.

"It's going to be a bit crazy," she told the court as magistrate Michael Dakin initially set a May 31 date for the hearing.

After she told him she would be in Bali for Schapelle's release, he instead set a date of June 1.