Efforts are being made to hear an inquest in January following the murder of dental nurse Laura Marshall in Lurgan seven years ago.
The body of the 31-year-old was found in a flat at Victoria Street in the town in April 2016.
A murder investigation was launched after the results of a post-mortem examination.
Her partner Gary O’Dowd from Banbridge was arrested and charged with her murder, but later walked free from court after the prosecution dropped all charges against him.
Mr O’Dowd denied the charge.
On Wednesday a preliminary hearing in Ms Marshall’s inquest was told that while preparation work is under way, a police officer involved, who is part of one of only two major investigation teams in the PSNI, has been compelled by superiors to work on active cases until December 1.
More than 200 hours of CCTV footage is among the evidence being prepared for consideration in the inquest.
During a previous hearing it emerged that a notice had been served on Mr O’Dowd to give evidence at the inquest.
On Wednesday, Belfast Coroner’s Court heard that an application for special measures has been made in respect of Mr O’Dowd.
It is set to be considered.
Former State Pathologist for Northern Ireland Professor Jack Crane is to appear as an expert witness.
Wednesday’s hearing was also told that Mr O’Dowd intends to instruct a “similar expert”, and Ms Marshall’s next of kin intend to instruct an engineer to give evidence at the inquest.
Coroner Louisa Fee set timescales for confirmation of these witnesses.
She said while she appreciates both will be required to seek legal aid authority for those instructions, and this takes time, she asked for confirmation of the identity of those witnesses and timescale within seven days.
“I appreciate that it may not be adhered to but it would certainly give me a better indication as to whether or not a hearing of this matter is achievable in the timescales that we have to deal with,” she said.
The full inquest is listed to start on January 15.
Another preliminary hearing is set to be held on December 6.
Ms Fee added: “On that date I am going to determine whether or not we can realistically proceed to hearing in January.”
