It is only a matter of time, lawyers say, before a Canadian courtroom plays host to a procedure known as "hot-tubbing." Despite the name, it does not involve installing Jacuzzis to relax witnesses.

"Hot-tubbing," common practice in Australian courts, is also known by the less colourful label "concurrent evidence." It means that expert witnesses in a complex, technical trial — such as a patent dispute about pharmaceuticals, for example — can testify in court together on a panel, rather than one-by-one in the witness box.

As the commission was turned over to a panel of planning experts to discuss key issues — a process known as "hot tubbing" — security specialist Athol Yates said that after disaster there was invariably a knee-jerk response of "we will rebuild" when it might be better to retreat from previous inappropriate development.

Another innovation is called hot-tubbing, in which experts are sworn as a panel so they are able to discuss issues as well as being questioned in the court.