There is a chance Livingstone could be available for the Christmas Eve game against Hobart Hurricanes followed by five more matches.

Renegades, who had first pick in the draft after finishing bottom last season, will be able to sign a replacement player for Livingstone - something they already needed to do for the latter stages once he left for South Africa - with any player who was nominated in the draft and not originally picked eligible to be brought in.

It is also understood that the league retains the ability to sanction a signing from outside the draft pool if they are viewed as being of the calibre that would be beneficial to the tournament.

The loss of Livingstone, who was not considered a likely Test candidate when the BBL draft took place, for the beginning of the competition is a blow after the league went to huge lengths to get the draft off the ground in late August. The BBL is facing a considerable squeeze in January with the emergence of the SA20 and ILT20 which had seen a number of players only make themselves available for part of the BBL.

Players selected in the draft will be paid a flat-fee based on the category they came from, but with Livingstone's availability having changed since he was selected his platinum figure of AU$340,000 will now be on a pro-rata basis for the number of games he remains available for, with Renegades able to use the difference to fund their replacement.

"We've been aware of this possibility for a little while now and have been working through Liam's availability and what's best for the Renegades," James Rosengarten, Renegades' general manager, said.

"We believe Liam can still have a big impact for us in BBL|12, and in our recent discussions, he's still looking forward to being part of our team, being back in the BBL and playing as many games as he can for our club following his international commitments. We'll continue to work with Liam over the coming weeks as to exactly how this looks.

"At the same time, we have already been working behind the scenes on finding the best player for our needs when Liam is unavailable. There are several world-class players who are now available to us during this period, and we will leave no stone unturned to give our team the best chance of success this season."

A league statement said: "As is the case in all T20 competitions, changing player availabilities are not unprecedented or unexpected. We are well prepared to assist all clubs to navigate changing international commitments for overseas players."

The tournament begins on December 13 and runs until February 4. Following the cancellation of the Australia-South Africa ODI series in January more of Australia's multi-format players will be available after the Test matches finish although the main fast bowlers are not expected to take part while Steven Smith does not have a deal.