Graham Gene Potter faced court in Queensland yesterday following his arrest on Monday in a derelict home.

Victorian officers applied for his extradition to the Melbourne Magistrates Court, where he is due to appear tomorrow on serious charges.

Potter had been wanted since 2010 after skipping bail on two conspiracy to murder charges and commercial drug offences relating to 25,000 ecstasy pills.

It is alleged he conspired to kill two people in 2008 and fled after being charged by detectives.

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Police had at times believed the 64-year-old was hiding in various locations across southern NSW and northern Victoria, including Griffith, Batlow, Tumut, Gundagai, Tocumwal and Cobram following possible sightings.

Reports were made in 2013 that he was working as a fruit picker on the Victoria-NSW border.

Those sightings were never confirmed and a campsite found on an island in Cobram was ruled out as being linked to Potter.

In 2016, police investigated possible sightings at a shop and gym in Griffith.

The following year Fugitive Taskforce received information Potter might have been living in Griffith, but the claims were never corroborated.

Potter was instead eventually found by police living in squalid conditions, surrounded by cats, at a home about 80 kilometres south-west of Cairns.

He appeared before the Atherton Magistrates Court yesterday. Magistrate Thomas Braes granted a request to extradite Potter back to Victoria.

Acting Assistant Commissioner Mick Frewen said he was certain it was Potter.

"There's no doubting his identity and it certainly puts to end a long and protracted hunt for a very high-end fugitive that's wanted for very, very serious criminal charges," he said.

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