“I’m just going to try and do the best I can,” [Lehrmann’s barrister] assured the court, before describing her client as “pretty much … a national joke” and “probably Australia’s most hated man”.

Burrows added that she was representing Lehrmann because, he “couldn’t afford” the barrister he “really wanted”.

The long, long public saga of Lehrmann has always co-mingled tragedy and farce. This week, it careened fully, decisively into farce. Here are the highlights of the lowlights.