There is new hope Peter Greste could be freed from his Cairo prison cell within days, with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop revealing "fingers [are] crossed" the jailed Australian journalist could be home before the New Year.
Peter Greste's parents Lois and Juris will spend Christmas Day in Cairo "hopefully" sharing a meal with their son during a scheduled one-hour visit.
Ms Bishop said on Wednesday she had spoken to her Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry in the last two days and urged him to release the al-Jazeera reporter in time for Christmas.
"He said it was under consideration, so we are hoping that our representations will result in a release for Peter Greste," Ms Bishop told the Seven Network's Sunrise program.
"We've got our fingers crossed but we don't know yet whether we have secured this. But I'm hopeful, I'm optimistic," she said.
"His appeal against that sentence is listed for the 1st of January, so it would be very exciting if there were some steps taken before then but we'll continue to make representations at the very highest level to make sure that Peter Greste can get home as soon as possible," she said.
Peter Greste's brother Andrew told the ABC his parents are in Egpyt and planning to visit their son on Christmas Day.
"So they'll have a short one-hour with him [and] hopefully be able to share a small meal," he said.
He said the family has always "remained hopeful" that 2015 would be a year of freedom for Peter, given the "next milestone" would be the appeal hearing due to begin on New Year's Day.
"We see that as the next available opportunity for Egypt to do the noble thing and recognise the injustice that has occurred here and let him go," he said.
"It's extremely difficult it's been a long arduous 12 months - we're just looking forward to the day it's all over," Andrew Greste said.
Peter Greste was jailed for seven years in June when an Egyptian court found he and his al-Jazeera colleagues guilty of spreading false news to support the Muslim Brotherhood.
In September, Egypt's ambassador to Australia Hassan el-Laithy said Mr Greste's jailing had affected the relationship between the two countries and expressed hope that the correspondent would be home "sooner rather than later".
