Laravel with datatables.net breaks with real url

My scenario I have a laravel9 site which is using datatables.net (v1.11.5) and all is good when I use php artisan serve. I'm now working on getting it to serve with a url (http://laravel.ecl using hosts and apache) The url works I can log in my site but when i wish to show my users table that uses the datatables.net script i get an error when trying to build the query.

I notice while looking at the line in question that when using artisan serve it isarray(0 => array(0, "asc")) but when i use the url i get array(0 => 0, 1 => "asc") consequently my code errors Trying to access array offset on value of type int.

This is the relevent part of my blade file:

    <div class="col-xs-12 col-sm-8 col-md-12 clearfix">
        <table id="users" class="eclipse table table-striped table-bordered table-hover">
            <thead>
                <td style="width:34px;">ID</td>
                <td style="width:16px;"> </td>
                <td style="width:220px;">Email</td>
                <td>Name</td>
                <td>Team</td>
                <td>Position</td>
                <td>Role</td>
                <td style="width:88px;">Last Edit</td>
                <td style="width:16px;">Actions</td>
            </thead>
            <tbody>

            </tbody>
        </table>
    </div>

    <script>
        var loader = document.getElementById("loader");
        var menu   = document.getElementById("menu-holder");
        var span   = document.getElementsByClassName("close")[0];
        var modal  = document.getElementById("myModal");
        $(document).ready(function() {
            var table = $('#users').DataTable({
                "serverSide": true,
                "ajax": {
                    url: "/users/data/",
                    method: "get"
                },
                "columnDefs" : [
                    {
                        "targets": [-1],
                        "data": null,
                        "visible": true,
                        "defaultContent": '<button><i class="fas fa-bars"></i></button>'
                    },
                    {
                        "targets": [0],
                        "visible": false
                    }
                ],
            });
            $("#users tbody").on("click", "button", function () {
                var data = table.row( $(this).parents('tr') ).data();
                // Show popup form
                var url = $( this ).data("url");
                // now call ajax on this url
                call_ajax( "/user/" + data[0] + "/action" );
                modal.style.backgroundColor = null;
                modal.style.display = "block";
                menu.style.display = "block";
            });
            $("#add-new-user").on("click", function () {
                // Show popup form
                var url = $( this ).data("url");
                // now call ajax on this url
                call_ajax( url );
                modal.style.display = "block";
                loader.style.display = "block";
            })
            span.onclick = function() {
                loader.style.display = "none";
                modal.style.display = "none";
                menu.style.display = "none";
                modal.style.backgroundColor = '#fefefe';
            }
            window.onclick = function(event) {
                if (event.target == menu) {
                    loader.style.display = "none";
                    modal.style.display = "none";
                    menu.style.display = "none";
                    modal.style.backgroundColor = '#fefefe';
                }
            }
        });

        function call_ajax( url ) {
            $.get( url )
                .done(
                    function( data ) {
                        $("#content-region").html( data );
                    }
                )
                .fail(
                    function() {
                        $("#content-region").html( "<p>error</p>" );
                    }
                );
        }
    </script>

the function in the controller:

    /**
     * Display a listing of the resource.
     *
     * @return \Illuminate\Http\Response
     */
    public function index( Request $request)
    {
        $search = $request->query('search', array('value' => '', 'regex' => false));
        $draw = $request->query('draw', 0);
        $start = $request->query('start', 0);
        $length = $request->query('length', 25);
        $order = $request->query('order', array(1, 'asc')); // << where the wrong values are rendered

        $filter = $search['value'];

        $sortColumns = array(
            0 => 'id',
            1 => 'profile_photo_path',
            2 => 'email',
            3 => 'name',
            4 => 'work_group',
            5 => 'position',
            6 => 'role',
            7 => 'created_at',
            8 => 'actions'
        );

        $query = User::select('users.*')->where('is_enabled', '=', 1);

        if (!empty($filter)) {
            $query->where('name', 'like', '%'.$filter.'%');
        }

        $recordsTotal = $query->count();

        $sortColumnName = $sortColumns[$order[0]['column']]; // << When the error happens

        $query->orderBy($sortColumnName, $order[0]['dir'])
            ->take($length)
            ->skip($start);

        $json = array(
            'draw' => $draw,
            'recordsTotal' => $recordsTotal,
            'recordsFiltered' => $recordsTotal,
            'data' => [],
        );

        $users = $query->get();

        foreach ($users as $user) {
            $json['data'][] = $user->getUserJson();
        }

        return $json;

    }

As explained earlier using php artisan serve works and this was what I have been using to develop until now. Now however I plan to use a proper url for further testing and have this issue. All pages that do not use the datatables functionality are serving correctly, pages that use datatables.net are returning the incorrect data on $order = $request->query('order', array(1, 'asc'));.