Australian journalist Peter Greste and two of his Al Jazeera colleagues have had their trial adjourned and have once again been denied bail from an Egyptian prison.

There had been hopes Greste could have been freed during the court appearance on Monday, after Prime Minister Tony Abbott spoke directly to interim Egyptian president Adly Mansour about the case last week.

However the trio, accused of spreading false news and having links with the Muslim Brotherhood - blacklisted as a terrorist organisation - had their case adjourned until April 10.

It was Greste's fourth appearance in court, after more than 90 days in prison, and in an unusual move he was allowed to directly approach the judge and tell him why he should be freed.

In words translated for the judge, Greste said that he had only been in Egypt for two weeks before his arrest and he had no connection with the Muslim Brotherhood.

He also said that he had committed no crimes of violence, had no criminal record, and that he posed no threat to the people or state of Egypt.

Greste told the court his only desire was to continue the fight to clear his name.

Fellow defendant Mohamed Fahmy pointed out that Greste is a Christian, making any alleged support for the Muslim Brotherhood unusual.

Fahmy also argued that because he himself drinks alcohol, he would not be a member of the Brotherhood.

Three so-called technical experts who presented to the court were supposed to look at Greste's stories and rule on whether they were biased towards the Muslim Brotherhood and whether they were seeking to tarnish Egypt's reputation.

However, that did not happen because there were no facilities for it in the court.

Greste, Fahmy, and Baher Mohamed were arrested in a Cairo hotel room on December 29.

The journalists have constantly denied the charges, which Al Jazeera has labelled absurd.

Family 'deflated' after bail is denied

Greste's parents, Lois and Juris Greste, told the ABC this morning they are trying to keep their hopes about the future of the case in check.

"[We are thinking] let's keep our expectations low otherwise we'll come down on a downer, a real downer," his mother Lois told ABC 612 Brisbane.

Greste's brother Mike attended last night's hearing. Lois Greste said that, prior to the decision, her son had been trying to remain realistic about the chances of his brother receiving bail.

"But when he came out he was also devastated," she said. "He sounded pretty deflated."

Juris Greste, wearing a t-shirt bearing the words "journalism is not terrorism", said the reporter had not been given any legal advice or access to a lawyer over the course of his imprisonment.

Lois Greste said the Australian Government had done "as much as one could possibly expect" to help secure her son's release.

Referring to Mr Abbott's phone call to Mr Mansour, she said: "They've gone right to the top, so where do you go after that?"

Lawyer praises family's 'dignified' stance

Queensland lawyer John Sneddon, who represented Australian businessman Marcus Lee after he was charged with fraud in Dubai, has praised the way Greste's family has handled the situation.

"I think everything the family is doing is correct," he said. "I take my hat off to them. I think they are handling the matter very well.

"I am really amazed at how dignified they have been."

But he said he would have liked to see more public advocacy from Australian politicians to pressure the Egyptian government into dropping the charges and releasing Greste.

"It seems to me that there may be advocacy going on behind the scenes, but I'm not seeing much evidence of it in the public forum," he said.

"I would personally like to see more of that."

He said it is not infringing on another country's sovereignty for Australian politicians to "speak up" about values Australians hold dear.