Lisa Wilkinson v. Network Ten LIVE BLOG: Explosive insight into The Project star's relationship with Channel 10 expected to be exposed in court

The case started on Tuesday when the publisher of the YouTube channel Feminism Debunked was summoned to court, but he was too late.

Glenn Logan is accused of publishing nine videos of Lehrmann's defamation hearing against Channel Ten on his YouTube channel.

He was ordered to appear in court at 9.30am on Tuesday, but his lawyer told the court his client was on a flight from Melbourne and would be about 15 minutes late.

“That is completely unacceptable,” Judge Michael Lee said.

The judge began each day of the December hearing by warning viewers to “observe and listen” to court proceedings.

Viewers were prohibited from recording or taking photographs of the hearing. Failure to do so may result in contempt of court.

Mr Logan's lawyer told the court his client was not mentally disabled but has autism, poor impulse control and an autism spectrum disorder.

The lawyer said Mr Logan was “genuinely remorseful” for his actions and immediately deleted the videos.

However, a recording of Mr Logan addressing his YouTube audience was played in court.

In the recording, Mr Logan was heard falsely claiming that YouTube is run by 'extreme feminists'.

He also urged his audience to continue watching his videos on other platforms.

“YouTube is constantly censoring my videos… Every video is no longer monetized,” he was heard saying.

Judge Lee formed the preliminary view that the case should result in a contempt charge.

Lisa Wilkinson is being cross-examined by the network's lawyer Robert Dick SC over the preparation of her Logies speech in June 2022.

Mr Dick has suggested that Wilkinson and Ten were both involved in delivering the speech, and that the network took joint responsibility for it.

Following the speech, the network released a statement saying: 'Both Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson take their legal obligations very seriously, including in the preparation and delivery of her speech at the Logies event.

“In light of the ongoing proceedings it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

She agreed that the network released that statement, but said she alone was accused of derailing Mr. Lehrmann's rape trial.

'[Ten] had been involved in that speech until 4.37am on the afternoon of the Logies,” she told the court.

Wilkinson said Ten's chief executive approved the speech, along with its head of public relations.

“But I was the one accused of derailing the rape case,” she said.

'I was portrayed as legally irresponsible. “I had taken significant steps to ensure the speech was legally sound before I even got near that stage.”

Lisa Wilkinson was called to the witness box on Tuesday morning and was immediately asked about her disastrous Logies speech in June 2022 – just days before Mr Lehrmann's rape trial was due to begin.

Network Ten's lawyer Robert Dick SC asked Wilkinson about June 20, 2022 – two days after she gave the speech.

At the time, Mr Lehrmann's legal team had applied for a stay in the ACT Supreme Court following the Logies speech, meaning he had applied to have the case quashed.

He argued that Wilkinson's speech would favor a jury against him and make it impossible for him to receive a fair trial.

The stay request was not granted, but the trial was rescheduled for October of that year.

After the application for suspension was made, Network Ten's senior counsel Tasha Smithies sent an email warning others at Ten not to publish parts of Wilkinson's speech.

“It would be fair to say that when you received that email you understood that you and Channel Ten had to be extremely careful about what you said about the upcoming process,” Mr Dick said.

“Yes,” Wilkinson replied.

He continued: 'You understand that in Ms Smithie's email there was concern that Network Ten would have to be extremely careful about what you said about the upcoming trial.'

Judge Michael Lee said in the Federal Court on Tuesday that he would pass judgment on Bruce Lehrmann's defamation action against Network Ten in March.

“Aside from Christmas Day, I have been working steadily on this issue and others,” he said.

'I expect that with the trial process I will be able to make a judgment in March.'

However, he said an extraordinary amount of evidence had been presented in relation to Lisa Wilkinson's counterclaim.

Some of the material provided was 'in tension' with certain aspects of the evidence given at the defamation hearing in December.

“The statements made outside of court were demonstrably inconsistent with the evidence given in court,” he said.

The strained relationship between Lisa Wilkinson and Network Ten is expected to come to light in federal court on Tuesday.

Wilkinson will claim that the network removed her as host of The Project amid the collapse of Bruce Lehrmann's first criminal trial in June 2022 and the fallout surrounding her Logies speech just days before the hearing.

ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum, concerned that Wilkinson's speech would bias a jury against Mr Lehrmann, postponed the trial until October 2022, slamming Wilkinson for making the speech in the first place.

Wilkinson will argue in court Tuesday that the network gave her speech an approval sign but then blamed her for the public fallout.

Wilkinson stepped down as host of The Project at the time, citing 'toxicity' in the media.

However, it is clear that she will claim that Logies' speech was the real reason.

Those details were never revealed because legal advice between Network Ten and Wilkinson was protected by legal privilege, but that was waived for the counterclaim.

When Mr Lehrmann filed the defamation suit against the network, naming Wilkinson as the first defendant, she hired her own lawyer, Sue Chrysanthou, to defend her rather than hiring Ten's lawyers.

She did not feel that the network had her best interests at heart.

The case will span Tuesday and Wednesday and was initially scheduled to hear only Wilkinson's civil case against the network.

But after seeing the documentation prepared by the parties, Judge Lee decided that there was new evidence relevant to the main claim of defamation.

Lisa Wilkinson is suing her employer Network Ten for more than $700,000 in legal fees.

The fees accrued when she hired Sue Chrysanthou, a defamation attorney, to defend her during the network's defamation lawsuit against Bruce Lehrmann following a 2021 interview she did with Brittany Higgins about the project .

During that interview, Ms Higgins publicly alleged for the first time that Mr Lehrmann raped her at Parliament House in 2019.

He was not named on the broadcast, but claimed that friends and former colleagues were able to identify him as the alleged rapist.

He has consistently maintained his innocence.

The defamation case was heard by Judge Michael Lee in December.

Wilkinson could have used Ten's legal team to defend her, but she chose to employ her own counsel.

She claims the network has agreed to cover the costs.

The case was originally filed as a separate case in the NSW Supreme Court, but Judge Lee decided the case was related to the defamation proceedings and would be heard as a cross-claim.