The commissioner, or if the proceeding is heard before a hearing officer of the Office of Administrative Hearings, such hearing officer, may order such postponements or continuances and grant such extensions of time as may be necessary to afford the licensee reasonable opportunity to defend the proceeding. In no event shall the licensee have less than 30 days after the date of service of the accusation in which to file a notice of defense, nor shall the notice of hearing provided for in Section 11509 of the Government Code or the notice and copy of affidavit referred to in Section 11514 of the Government Code be mailed or delivered less than 20 days prior to the date of hearing, and the time for making a request to cross-examine under Section 11514 of the Government Code shall not be less than 15 days.