Amanda Bynes -- Pleads with Judge to End Conservatorship

Amanda Bynes's lawyer started without her ... showing up in court at 1:30 PM Friday and making a beeline into the judge's chambers trying to free his client of her parents' conservatorship.

Amanda's parents showed up. Our sources say they will say little if anything. This is Amanda's hearing to convince the judge she's stable enough to live on her own.

Amanda didn't show up on time ... she was otherwise occupied eating watermelon in Hollywood less than an hour before the hearing started in Ventura County.

TMZ broke the story ... Bynes was released Thursday from the psychiatric facility where she had been held for more than two weeks. A judge overruled the doctors and felt she should NOT be held against her will.

But in the hours since her release, Amanda has resumed her bizarre conduct ... wandering the Sunset Strip and throwing a fit when she couldn't get a hotel room ... then unleashing one of her trademark Twitter rants.