Austin suffered a nasty injury early in November against Watford and was not expected to return until 2013.
But with Michael Tonge's loan from Stoke set to expire on December 22nd, Warnock is hopeful Austin can help cover his absence until he can be re-signed on January 1st.
"He's coming along really well and there's an outside chance that he'll be back in time for Tonge going back to Stoke," Warnock told the Yorkshire Evening Post.
"That would be a big bonus and one way or the other he should definitely be with us for the start of January. We aren't going to rush him but at the same time it'll be great to have him back. He's been a big player.
"It's a bonus to be thinking about him at all because I honestly thought he'd be looking at about six months out when the injury first happened.
"That's how serious we thought it was. But he's doing fine."