The man accused of fatally punching a Melbourne surgeon in the head told police he didn't mean to hit him hard.

Joseph Esmaili, 24, faces the Supreme Court on Monday for trial, charged with one count of manslaughter by an unlawful and dangerous act.

"I wasn't trying to hit him hard. I shouldn't have hit him in the first place," Esmaili told police during an interview recounted by prosecutors in court.

Mr Esmaili is accused of felling surgeon Patrick Pritzwald-Stegmann with a single punch in the hospital's foyer on May 30.

Mr Pritzwald-Stegmann, a 41-year-old father of two, died about four weeks later.

AAP