The fuel lines are gravity assisted, so if you have more than 1/4 of diesel in the tank, that would help.

Jack up the rear of the car so the nose is pointing downwards, then crank.

If you're feeling particularly brave, pressurize the gas tank 5-10 psi with compressed air and then crank.

 

I tried it 3 times already and it works.
Give the car tilt forward. Even slight tilt will play big role.
Than top-off the tank with diesel.
We had all fuel lines replaced on one job and the engine started on the first crank, only hesitating for about 15 seconds.
Dry fuel filter might take few seconds to fill, but I rather make few extra starter turns, than risk injector contamination by filling up the filter.

 

Nose down, keep on cranking.

 

Make sure you have the large o ring on the primary filter. If you forgot it the car will never start. You can suck out most of the air by sucking on the return line port on the back of the filter housing using a minivac. When the obvious bubbles are sucked out, plug the return line back in and crank. When I changed my shut off valve it still took some cranking to get the air out of the injector pump.

 

When you top off the tank, even on flat surface, missing filter oring will create nice spill.
YOU WON'T MISS IT.

 

I have a feeling there's a story there.

 

I just replaced all the low-pressure, plastic diesel lines and O-rings

After replacing all my low-pressure lines + the SOV + filters + tank strainer, I used my Mityvac 7400 7.3 Liter Fluid Evacuator on the return line and it left NO air bubbles in the lines. Nice!

I've had this 7400 for about a decade, and it is SO HANDY. Added too much transmission fluid? No problem. Want to remove the PS fluid or brake fluid from their reservoirs? This is the tool.

Well worth the $70.