What if they relisted the federal job I applied for?

Here's the situation. I applied, and was referred to the hiring official for a federal position. I was contacted by the person hiring to see if I was interested. I heard nothing for a few weeks, so called back to talk to that individual and was told the job needed to be relisted for veteran's preference. For anyone who's familiar with the hiring process, how does this work now? They already have a list of qualified candidates from the "public" listing. Now when this posting closes they will have a list of qualified candidates from the "prior service" listing. My question is : will they combine the lists and take the top X number of candidates, combine the lists all together, or just take the "prior service" list. The person hiring told me she hoped to see me on the new list, and told me if I saw it posted again to apply again, but didn't know if I would be on it or not. I am just wondering how they will come up with their final list with these two separate postings.

Update: The position has just been listed AGAIN for the public. I'm not sure why they couldn't use the same list from the last time?

It sound like they got caught with their pants down.. they tried to hire civilian first before using the Prior military or veteran's lists. which is a Federal Service NO NO....

From what I have been told by a friend in your same position--They elect all the qualified prior service candidates first then got to the public list.