You're right in that up until a ruling has been given then...

You're right in that up until a ruling has been given then nothing is certain.

It was pointed out quite a few times and I think @Mainy66 mentioned it last night that Kidmans legal team consisted of 5-6 people and MZNs 2 or 3. Whilst this doesn't guarantee succcess I felt that KDRs legal team had many precedent cases and authorities to compare and contrast with KDRs plea and MZNs team struggled, or did not put forward a sound enough argument of what precedent cases applied to their plea.
The speed of return of responses from KDRs legal team came from the experience on the ground. I felt that Senior Counsel Donaldson certainly knew his game and let Mr Bennett know it.
I also feel there was some gamesmanship involved on the SC behalf as well.