I had the same problem so decided to take the cable out of the cistern carefully removing the plastic 'terminals' at either end and then dismantling them completely with the help of my trusted swiss army knife.
On opening the white plastic terminal (at the cistern end) I found a small spring which I thought might not be up to the job as the cable was quite hard to action manually. It didn't slide well into its sleeve.
I then decided to take the other terminal apart, at the flush-button end, which enabled me to have a proper look at the cable. It still didn't slide into the sleeve as it should have.
After injecting WD40 into the sleeve at both ends and actioning the cable back and forth through the sleeve several time I discovered that there was a build up of gritty deposit along the cistern end of the cable that was making it harder for the cable to slide into its sleeve.
I removed the gritty deposit, put a bit more WD40 on the whole thing, re-assembled (being careful not to break any plastic clips on either terminals) and the flush is now working as it did for the first 3-years of use.
Depending the hardness the water in your area, the way your cistern was installed and so on you could possibly have the same issue. Check the cable out before buying a whole new concealed cistern system would be my advice but be careful not to break any plastic clips as otherwise you will probably have to.
Hope this helps.
ujilne
November 2014