Chief Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff has welcomed a decision to extradite an 88-year-old alleged war criminal to Hungary from Perth but says legal appeals may remain a source of frustration.

Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor on Thursday announced Charles Zentai would be surrendered to Hungarian authorities.

If the extradition goes ahead, Zentai is set to become the first Australian to face court over alleged Nazi war crimes.

Zentai was arrested in 2005 after Hungarian authorities issued a warrant for his arrest.

Hungary alleges he was one of three soldiers who beat and tortured a Jewish teenager, Peter Balazs, to death in November 1944 because he failed to wear a Jewish star to identify him as a Jew.

Zentai emigrated to Australia after the war.

He lived quietly in the southern Perth suburb of Willetton for years until his 2005 arrest, when he was briefly taken into custody.

Zentai surrendered himself to police last month and has been held in custody after deciding against making another appeal to the High Court.

He has maintained his innocence and his legal battle to avoid extradition, including high court and federal court appeals, has cost more than $200,000.

Last month the full bench of the Federal Court dismissed his latest appeal, and the decision was left in the hands Mr O'Connor.

Subject to any legal challenge by Zentai, Hungarian authorities have two months in which to carry out the extradition.

Zentai's son, Ernie Steiner, said he had spoken briefly with his father's lawyers about taking legal action in an attempt to overturn the minister's decision.

Dr Zuroff, who works for Jewish human rights group The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, has pursued Zentai's extradition for the past five years.

He said he was "ecstatic" about the minister's decision to extradite Zentai.

But Dr Zuroff said he was frustrated with the legal obstacles put up by Zentai.

"It's frustrating in view of the fact that all these legal technical challenges have nothing to do with the case," Dr Zuroff told AAP from New York on Friday.

"There's no connection between them and the crime."

Dr Zuroff said Mr O'Connor's decision was "a great day" for Australia, Hungary and justice.

Mr O'Connor said the decision to approve the extradition was not an indication of Zentai's guilt or innocence.

"It was about deciding whether or not Mr Zentai should be surrendered to Hungary in accordance with Australia's extradition legislation and its international obligations," he said on Thursday.

"These obligations reflect Australia's crime co-operation responsibilities to other nations around the globe."

Zentai's prosecution would be conducted by an open military court in Hungary but under civil administration, Dr Zuroff said.

Mr Steiner said he had a document that proved the Hungarian government wants to question Zentai, not prosecute him.

He said a lack of living witnesses and the fact it was a military court meant his father would not get a fair trial.

Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said it was his understanding that Hungary had not technically charged Zentai.

"But that is their (Hungary's) frame of mind and I think that is their clear intent," Dr Rubenstein told AAP.

Hungary obviously had strong grounds for pursuing Zentai and if extradited the octogenarian would have a chance to clear his name, Dr Rubenstein said.

"I think they wouldn't be going to these lengths if they didn't have very good grounds for pursuing this course. It's hard to believe that they don't," he said.

Dr Rubenstein said age should be no barrier to the pursuit of justice and Australia should not be considered a safe haven for Nazi war criminals or war criminals from any other conflict.

"We have always sort of taken the view there's no statute of limitations for murder and the principles of Australia, it should not be taken for a safe haven for war criminals," he said.

brisbanetimes.com.au