Now to Melbourne, where the Federal Court of Australia is hearing the fifth day of a three-week defamation trial launched by ousted Liberal Moira Deeming against state Opposition Leader John Pesutto.

Deeming alleges Pesutto defamed her as a Nazi sympathiser, which Pesutto rejects. Deeming helped organise the Let Women Speak rally on the steps of the Victorian parliament on March 18, 2023.

Neo-Nazis arrived at Spring Street that day and repeatedly performed the salute. Deeming, who said she was horrified by the men, said she did not see this until they were being escorted away and rejected evidence they were there to support the cause of the rally she helped organise.

Pesutto moved to expel Deeming from the parliamentary Liberal Party in the days following the rally. She was expelled instead in a last-minute compromise but was ultimately expelled in May after threatening to bring in lawyers.

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On Thursday, Deeming said she did not want to assume people dressed in black and doing a salute on the steps of the Victorian parliament were neo-Nazis. She told the court she wanted to be sure before accusing the group of something so bad. Deeming finished her cross-examination on Thursday.

Earlier in the week, a clandestine 70-minute recording of a meeting between the Victorian Liberals’ leadership and Deeming was played to the court.

The leadership team expressed their fears – just months out from the 2022 election – that Labor would weaponise Deeming’s attendance at the rally, with Pesutto saying: “They have been itching for something to clobber me with and this is it.”

Sue Chrysanthou, SC, Deeming’s barrister, earlier told the court the leadership team was piling on and haranguing her client.

You can watch today’s evidence in the Federal Court via the live feed here. We’re expecting to hear evidence from backbench MP Renee Heath, and shadow ministers Richard Riordan and David Hodgett. All three are giving evidence for Deeming.