The transformed panel, initially reduced by more than half and now a committee totalling six members - three of them newcomers - is responsible for judging all cases presented to it by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority.

While neither ASADA nor the Sports Minister's office comments on the activity of the panel, Fairfax Media learnt on Thursday that it had officially got back to business.

In the case of Dank, the panel's job is to determine whether, based on the findings of ASADA's extensive investigations and recommendations, the biochemist's name should be entered on ASADA's register of findings and sanctioned for his past work with elite football clubs.

That action, which may already be in train as a result of the panel's meeting on Thursday, would lead to Dank and the AFL being notified of all violations and the sanction in writing.

But even if the panel made its ruling on Dank on Thursday, that advice may not be communicated to interested parties formally for some weeks.

The panel informed Dank more than a month ago that it was pursuing him for 34 anti-doping rule violations he allegedly committed while employed by AFL clubs Essendon and the Gold Coast.

Dank's failure to respond to the show notice within 10 days triggered the referral of the matter to the panel.

But proceedings were delayed by an untimely turnover of the panel's membership - a matter that was in the remit of federal Sports Minister Peter Dutton.

While hugely significant in the unresolved AFL and NRL drug investigations involving more than one AFL club and NRL club Cronulla, the ruling on Dank is just one of numerous matters before the panel.

Dank stands accused of trafficking and administering substances that are banned for use by athletes, and though he has denied footballers received prohibited drugs as part of the sports science programs he designed, his show cause notice from ASADA outlines a litany of breaches.

Dank has refused to co-operate with ASADA throughout the 15-month investigation. If he is sanctioned for practices when he was an athlete support personnel with football clubs, Dank says he will fight his case through the Federal Court.