Television personality Don Burke won a defamation case brought against him in the ACT Supreme Court by a woman who claimed he sexually harassed her.
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However, he won because the judge's findings call into question his credibility in the matter and he called his win ironic.
Journalist Wendy Dent applied to work on Mr Burke's popular television show Burke's Backyard in the mid-1990s and claimed Mr Burke told her that to get the job she would have to audition topless.
In November 2017 Mr Burke gave an interview on the Nine network's A Current Affair program where he rubbished Ms Dent's claims, saying she had lied about the incident and had made the allegation as part of a "witch-hunt" against him.
A number of women made allegations of sexual harassment and indecent assault against Mr Burke after a joint Fairfax and ABC investigation in 2017.
Ms Dent began defamation proceedings last year against Mr Burke in relation to two imputations she said he had conveyed in the interview.
These were that she had lied about the sexual harassment allegation and that she made the false allegation as part of a witch-hunt.
Justice David Mossop determined these imputations were not made out due to Mr Burke's manner in the A Current Affair interview, and called into question his credibility and found viewers of the interview were unlikely to believe Mr Burke.
Mr Burke did not appear in court on Friday.
Speaking outside court, Ms Dent said she was disappointed with the result but also believed it vindicated her.
"The judge ruled that I am the one to be believed, that my allegations were absolutely credible and that is what counts," Ms Dent said.
"But I have been through hell 100 times because of Don Burke, and because of this ruling today it was 101. So it's not over."
Justice Mossop said the overall impression of the interview was Mr Burke having numerous allegations levelled at him and him "providing his less than compelling response".
He said the interview did not make it seem that Ms Dent had lied nor had she acted based on a desire to join a witch-hunt.
"Rather, a fair-minded observer of the program would understand that there were credible allegations made by a number of people including [Ms Dent] and that [Mr Burke] denied the allegations, but did so in a manner which gave rise to real doubts about the credibility of his denials," Justice Mossop said.
He said for that reason he must find in favour of Mr Burke as the imputations against Ms Dent's character had not been successfully made out.
"The irony of [Mr Burke] obtaining judgment in his favour on the basis that he has will be obvious," Justice Mossop said.
Ms Dent's lawyer, Zoe Jones, agreed the judgment was vindication for her client and described the result as "a Pyrrhic victory" for Mr Burke.
"There has been an immeasurable economic loss for Ms Dent in terms of her professional life as a journalist and in her career," Ms Jones said.
"More than that, it has impacted her profoundly in the way she is viewed by not only her peers but the community in general."
Ms Dent was ordered to pay Mr Burke's costs but Ms Jones said the matter would be relisted and they would argue against the awarding of costs.
