Luke Anthony Downs did not appear in the district court, and has been behind bars since his arrest more than two years ago, in February 2019.

Downs pleaded guilty to charges against him last year, including firing a shotgun and dealing a commercial quantity of the drug ice.

Judge Deborah Payne said the case had already been drawn out and needed to be resolved.

"We can't let this roll on, the man's been in custody for what, years?" she told the court.

"We have to get this case on."

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Both prosecution and defence solicitors could not work out a suitable court date when both of them - plus the barristers that had been briefed on both sides - would all be able to make it to Tamworth District Court for Downs' sentencing.

The court heard both prosecution and defence solicitors and their counsel had been handling the matter for some time, and couldn't pass it over to someone else to deal with.

"We can't just sit here looking at dates," Judge Payne said.

She even considered taking the matter with her for her next sittings in Parramatta in July, but ultimately decided against it when a resolution was found.

"No one wants to welcome someone to Parramatta with all this work with them," she said.

Aside from Downs, the final two ice castle co-accused are set to be sentenced in Paramatta before Judge Payne.

The court heard sentencing could require two days in court with written submissions handed up, as well as possible reliance on some remarks that were made in cases of the co-accused.

The solicitors settled on a June date for the case to be mentioned before sentencing.

There was no application for Downs to be released from custody, and Judge Payne formally refused him bail.

He was ordered to appear in person at Tamworth District Court for his sentencing later this month.

More than 30 people were charged as part of Strike Force Radius in 2019. The secret police sting was set up by Oxley detectives to expose the Tamworth 'ice castle' ring, which involved supplies centred around a housing commission unit in Petra Avenue, nicknamed the 'ice castle' by some of the accused.

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