An alleged Nazi war criminal has failed to avoid extradition to Hungary on charges of murdering a Jewish teenager in 1944.

Charles Zentai, 87, appeared in the Federal Court on Tuesday to learn the outcome of his application for a review of a magistrate's ruling that he is eligible for surrender to Hungarian authorities.

Zentai, of the southern Perth suburb of Willeton, had made the application on the basis that the charge against him did not constitute a war crime at the time of the murder.

Justice John Gilmour upheld the ruling of magistrate Barbara Lane, concluding the charge was a war crime and an extradition offence.

Asked why Zentai should not be held in custody until the federal government made a decision on his extradition, lawyer Denis Barich said his client had a heart condition and was under the care of specialists.

Zentai, who supported himself with walking stick at the hearing, was given a seven-day stay on a bail ruling.

Justice Gilmour said he should provide submissions from his specialists to show cause why he should not be held in custody.

Zentai is alleged to have been with two other men who tortured 18-year-old Peter Balazs in Budapest in November 1944, leading to his death.

Zentai says he was not even in Budapest at the time.

After Ms Lane ruled he was eligible for surrender to Hungarian authorities, his lawyers argued that a 1945 decree in the Australia-Hungary treaty meant the offence Zentai was accused of was not a war crime.

Zentai, who will appear in the Federal Court again next Tuesday, is likely to make application for an appeal to the full bench of the Federal Court.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre's chief Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff welcomed the latest federal court judgment but said the whole process was infuriating.

"This is my fear (that it is going to drag on). I'm actually infuriated by this whole process," Dr Zuroff told AAP.

"It's already four years since the extradition request from Hungary came to Australia and Zentai and his family have been able, by a variety of legal machinations, to prevent him from being extradited."

Dr Zuroff said Zentai should be in custody.

"The problem is they look at him and they think he deserves some sort of sympathy because he's elderly - the people who deserve the sympathy are Peter Balazs and his family; he's the one who was murdered and they are the ones who have suffered the loss of a dear one ..." he said.

Dr Zuroff said the family's concerns that Zentai would not get a fair trial in Hungary were unfounded.

"That's total bullshit, quite frankly that's total bullshit," Dr Zuroff said.

"They're talking about Hungary like nothing has happened in the last 18 years. Hungary became a democracy, it joined the European Union, it joined NATO, what are they talking about?"

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