Treasurer Joe Hockey will recover only a small fraction of his legal costs incurred in suing Fairfax Media for defamation.

In June, Mr Hockey won a Federal Court defamation case against Fairfax and was awarded $200,000 in damages.

The court examined whether Mr Hockey’s reputation was damaged by a series of reports last year from Fairfax, including an article headlined “Treasurer for sale”.

Justice Richard White found that a poster headline and tweets reading “Treasurer for sale” were defamatory.

All other claims made by Mr Hockey were dismissed.

In the Federal Court today, Justice White ordered that Fairfax pay no more than 15 per cent of Mr Hockey’s recoverable costs.

This means his legal bill is expected to be far in excess of the $200,000 he was awarded.

A source close to the case dismissed speculation Fairfax and Mr Hockey each incurred more than $1 million in legal bills.

However, the bill for both parties combined is expected to top $1 million.

If that is the case, Mr Hockey would net $250,000 from Fairfax in damages and costs but face a legal bill of about $500,000.

The reports, published in newspapers including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and online on May 5, 2014, related to Mr Hockey’s involvement with Liberal Party fundraising group the North Sydney Forum (NSF).

Justice White had found that Fairfax Media may have been able to rely on a defence of qualified privilege to justify the headline and tweets, however this defence was not available because the headline was motivated by “malice”.

In March, the court heard from Sean Nicholls, The Sydney Morning Herald’s state political editor and the author of the “Treasurer for sale” article, who said he believed the story was in the public interest because there was “significant public debate about donations being tied to access to politicians”.