Australia's corruption watchdog is calling for some slack as it investigates one of the nation's darkest chapters amid community criticism about it not holding public hearings or finalising matters quick enough.

National Anti-Corruption Commission deputy commissioner Kylie Kilgour said the body was wary that every time it did something it was for the first time and "you don't want to muck it up".

The NACC can only old public hearings in exceptional circumstances when it's in the public interest.

Critics are questioning why no public hearings have occurred in its more than two years of operation, citing it as evidence that the federal government made the threshold too high.

"Absolutely, we will do a public hearing, we just don't have the right matter, none of the public hearings we're d

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