Dank, who was handed the ban from all sports which have accepted the World Anti-Doping Code for his role in the 2012 supplements programme at AFL club Essendon, failed to turn up to the first day of his hearing and missed a deadline of 5pm on Friday (November 25) to prove the reasons for his absence.

The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) and the AFL had both urged the Appeals Board to dismiss the case, which would bring an end to the long-running saga.

"Friday came and passed and there has not been provided the information requested nor has there been any explanation why this has not been done," AFL Appeal Board chairman Peter O'Callaghan QC said in a statement.

"Thus the condition for further hearing has not been met.

"Accordingly, the Board considers that it should now determine the application for dismissal.

"It is the Board's view in all the circumstances of this appeal and in particular the intentional and continuous disregard of the Board's ruling of November 21 the applications of the AFL and ASADA for the dismissal of the appeal for want of prosecution should be granted."

A total of 34 past and present Essendon players have been found guilty of being injected with a banned peptide, Thymosin Beta-4, by Dank when he was working for the club as a sports scientist in the 2012 season.

Dank, however, was cleared of injecting any Essendon player with Thymosin Beta-4, with his 10 doping convictions linked to trafficking and possessing banned substances during his employment with Essendon and earlier work with the Gold Coast Suns at the back end of 2010.

Throughout the four-year scandal, he was never found guilty of administering a banned substance to an athlete, but more than 50 AFL and National Rugby League (NRL) players have served doping bans as a result of his actions.

Dank was found guilty of 10 charges and cleared on a further 24 by an AFL tribunal in April last year.

ASADA chief executive Ben McDevitt has welcomed the Appeal Board's decision.

"Mr Dank has treated this Appeal Board with contempt from the very beginning and his appeal process has been a farce," he said.

"From the start, Mr Dank has failed to comply with directions from the Board, failed to ever produce a witness list or evidence, and failed to ever outline his case for the appeal, despite requests from the Board.

"Mr Dank's life-long ban from involvement in sport is entirely appropriate.

"This man should not be allowed near any athlete, anywhere in the world, ever."

The Essendon supplements scandal was born out of an investigation in February 2013 by the Australian Crime Commission, which released the Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport report, alleging widespread doping in Australian sport.

As a result, in June 2014, the ASADA initiated action against the players, via the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal, alleging doping through the use of Thymosin Beta-4.

The majority were banned for two years but their suspensions were backdated, with some ending this month, clearing them to return to the sport in time for the new AFL season.

They missed the 2016 campaign, however, which culminated in the Western Bulldogs beating Sydney in the Grand Final.

As a result of the doping bans, Essendon - whose record of 16 Premiership titles is the best in the sport's history - failed to qualify for the finals and finished last of the 18 teams in the ladder round.