A Liberal Party bid to head off a minor rival using a similar name has hit a hurdle.
The Liberal Democrats lost a High Court case in March which affirmed federal electoral laws banning parties from using names similar to other parties.
The Liberal Party argued in court the Liberal Democrats benefit from voters mistakenly casting a ballot for the minor party's candidates.
Following the court decision, the LDP applied to the Australian Electoral Commission to change its name to the Liberty & Democracy Party, which would use the abbreviation Liberty Democrats.
However, when objections to the new name were lodged, the party withdrew its name-change application.
On April 1, the AEC lodged a further deregistration notice.
But with an election expected to be called within days, and a 30-day appeal period, there is not enough time to complete the process so the party will get to keep its Liberal Democrats name.
Electoral commissioner Tom Rogers told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday the party register is effectively "frozen" when the election writ is issued, with no further name changes allowed.
"There is a process and we are following that process to the letter," he said.
Liberal Democrats national president John Humphreys told members in an email the party would have to change its name "at some point".
"(But) for the moment our focus must remain on the campaign," he said.
The LDP scored 1.16 per cent of the Senate vote and 0.24 per cent of the national primary vote in the lower house at the 2019 election.
