Sun Cable was placed in administration in January after its owners failed to agree on future funding plans.

The Singapore-based firm is owned by the private firms of two of Australia's richest people, Andrew Forrest's Squadron Energy and Mike Cannon-Brookes' Grok Ventures.

In a statement on Wednesday, administrators FTI Consulting said "multiple parties" had lodged non-binding indicative offers for Sun Cable. A shortlist of bidders would be compiled to submit binding proposals by the end of April, it added.

It hopes to have a deal finalised by the end of May.

"The shortlisted bidders include a range of potential buyers including parties that are not existing Sun Cable shareholders," the statement said indicating external potential buyers had emerged without identifying interested parties.

Sun Cable's mega project includes the proposed Australia-Asia PowerLink which would have sent power from a 20 gigawatt (GW) solar farm with the world's biggest battery in northern Australia across a 4,200 kilometres-long (2610 miles) undersea cable to Singapore.

Together, it was estimated to cost more than $20 billion.

"The sale process has advertised Sun Cable as a complete development, including AAPowerlink, and the sale continues to be progressed on that basis," FTI Consulting said.

Squadron has called for an overhaul of Sun Cable's plans, and Forrest has said he would scrap the cable to Singapore.

(Reporting by Scott Murdoch; Editing by Sonali Paul)

By Scott Murdoch