Billionaire Clive Palmer allegedly faked entries in a green notebook in a bid to justify draining Queensland Nickel of millions of dollars for anything he wanted before it collapsed in 2016, a Brisbane court has been told.

Key points: The court heard Mr Palmer only revealed the existence of the notebook weeks before he was to be grilled in Federal Court hearings

The court heard Mr Palmer only revealed the existence of the notebook weeks before he was to be grilled in Federal Court hearings Queensland Nickel ran at a loss for "roughly half" of the seven years it was under Mr Palmer's ownership, the court heard

Queensland Nickel ran at a loss for "roughly half" of the seven years it was under Mr Palmer's ownership, the court heard Clive Palmer denies any wrongdoing or that he or his companies are liable for Queensland Nickel's debts

Lawyers for a team of liquidators trying to claw back $200 million have said they had evidence of the alleged ruse at the trial, which opened in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Tuesday.

In his opening address, barrister Shane Doyle who is acting for Commonwealth-appointed liquidators trying to recover $66 million in entitlements for almost 800 sacked workers, said many of Mr Palmer's handwritten entries "can be shown to be false".

"If real, they would extend the [Queensland Nickel] joint venture to really anything that might be the wishes of Mr Palmer," Mr Doyle said.

He told the court this would include making and forgiving loans, investing in other Palmer-owned companies, making political donations to Mr Palmer's party, and to "support" him in any other way he may require.

Mr Doyle said Mr Palmer had only revealed the existence of the notebook and its "professed" changes to the rules of the nickel venture weeks before he was to be grilled in Federal Court hearings.

'Transactions of the most extraordinary kind'

Mr Palmer had claimed the only other person who knew of it was his nephew and Queensland Nickel general manager Clive Mensink, who is now overseas as "a fugitive from an Australian warrant", Mr Doyle said.

Mr Doyle told the hearing Mr Palmer knew the company was going into administration, workers would be laid off and other people's jobs were on the line when he put two of his other companies to the front of the creditors queue, claiming secured interests of up to $230 million.

Mr Doyle said if those moves were valid, employees and trade creditors would have "no chance" of payment.

"They are transactions of the most extraordinary kind," Mr Doyle said.

He said Queensland Nickel ran at a loss for "roughly half" of the seven years it was under Mr Palmer's ownership.

Mr Doyle said Mr Palmer was "unprepared to support" the company as it approached collapse but appealed for government bailouts, with documents produced by Queensland Nickel warning its demise would cost Townsville 2,396 jobs and the federal government $130 million in social security payments.

Liquidators' behaviour was 'disgraceful, Palmer says

Mr Palmer has denied any wrongdoing or that he or his companies are liable for Queensland Nickel's debts.

Mr Palmer, who did not return to court after the lunch break, told reporters outside court that "the whole thing seems very boring".

He said he looked forward to the chance to cross-examine Queensland Nickel's former administrators and "put before the people of Queensland the other side of the story".

"They've haven't seen that, so why would you want to lose that opportunity, and I think I'll particularly enjoy questioning them," Mr Palmer said.

On his way into court on Tuesday morning, Mr Palmer denied he was trying to stall the trial.

"No, we will be looking forward to bringing the liquidators to account for their disgraceful behaviour in destroying 3,000 jobs in North Queensland," he said.

"It's a great opportunity to let people know that we offered to pay all the creditors and we offered to transfer all employees and keep it going, and the liquidators stopped it so they could get money and suck the blood out of the people of Queensland."

General and special purpose liquidators have combined their claims for this trial, which has been listed over nine weeks.

The federal government paid $67 million to Queensland Nickel employees under the Fair Entitlements Guarantee, which provides money for workers when companies go bust.

Special purpose liquidators KPMG are acting for the Commonwealth, hoping to recover some $200 million from related corporate entities and $70 million from Mr Palmer.

General purpose liquidators FTI Consulting are acting for non-government creditors including Aurizon.

Mr Palmer has previously said most workers had been repaid.