ACT Supreme Court hears possible bid for permanent stay for Bruce Lehrmann accused of raping former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins

Bruce Lehrmann, 26, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of engaging in sexual intercourse without consent.

He denies claims any sexual activity, consensual or otherwise, took place with Ms Higgins in the office of federal government minister Linda Reynolds on the day in question in March 2019.

Both he and Ms Higgins worked for the minister at the time.

The case came back before the ACT Supreme Court on Monday when acting Chief Justice Michael Elkaim said he understood there was an application for a permanent stay of proceedings, which if granted by the court, would discontinue legal action.

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Mr Lehrmann's lawyer, John Korn, said there was no application and that the idea had not been raised during discussions to date.

"At the moment, there is no application on foot for a variety of reasons," Mr Korn said.

"That's not to say there won't be. Hopefully there will be."

Mr Korn said if an application were lodged, a different legal team would handle the process.

The ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC said "this is the first time hearing" about any potential application.

Acting Chief Justice Elkaim told Mr Korn that if they were to lodge an application, they would need to do so by the middle of March.

The matter will be mentioned again on March 10 and the trial is set to begin in June.

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