Mr Blackburn told Federal Court Justice Michael Wigney on Wednesday that Ms Norvill was a "very brave" and impressive witness who had been "absolutely truthful" in her evidence.

He said that "when one cuts to the chase" Justice Wigney was faced with "a choice" between the evidence of Mr Rush and the evidence of Ms Norvill on crucial points, and in the Telegraph's submission he should accept the evidence of Ms Norvill.

Mr Blackburn said Ms Norvill did not want to make a formal complaint about Mr Rush and "certainly didn't speak to any journalists". She was not seeking "publicity" or "vengeance" but simply wanted to ensure the same thing did not happen to someone else, he said.

The court has heard Ms Norvill made an informal complaint to STC company manager Annalies Crowe at a pub in Annandale in April 2016, which was recorded in an email Ms Crowe sent to colleagues on April 6.

Ms Crowe said in the email that Ms Norvill had "revealed that she was sexually harassed on multiple occasions by Geoffrey Rush during rehearsals and the season of King Lear".

"In the beginning, she had heard rumours about Geoffrey's behaviour in the past but believed she had a platonic, intellectual relationship with him, and didn't feel the need to steer clear of him," Ms Crowe wrote.

Ms Crowe said that she had seen Ms Norvill was "very upset" after the closing night of King Lear and added that "knowing Geoffrey's reputation I'm afraid I'd assumed he may have been the cause but didn't want to push her at the time".

Ms Crowe was subpoenaed by the Telegraph but did not give evidence in court for either side. Justice Wigney said that while the email had received significant media attention, Ms Crowe had not been called to give evidence and he proposed to attach "zero weight" to her comment about Mr Rush's alleged reputation.

"If you wanted to call bad character evidence of a general kind you could have," Justice Wigney told Mr Blackburn.

Mr Blackburn said Ms Norvill had been subjected to an "appalling" attack in the witness box when Mr Rush's barrister, Bruce McClintock, SC, accused her of telling a "pack of disgusting lies" about the actor.

It was a "florid and extravagant allegation" and Mr McClintock could not put to her any reason why she should tell lies about Mr Rush, he said. Ms Norvill responded with "dignified restraint".

Mr Blackburn said Ms Norvill had no motive to lie and she "desperately, desperately wanted to stay out of the limelight".

Nobody would "put themselves through" her experience in court "unless they had a true story to tell", he said.

Mr Blackburn said text messages sent to Ms Norvill by veteran stage actress Robyn Nevin, who played The Fool in King Lear and told the court she witnessed nothing untoward between Mr Rush and Ms Nevin, supported Ms Norvill's account.

"Oh dear girl are you ok?? I was contacted today by Channel 9, I was in rehearsal with no iPhone. Fortunate. I told my agent no comment. But it's nasty. I hope you will be protected. I'm sure you will be. If you need anything just ask. xxx," Ms Nevin said in text on December 1 last year, after the stories were published.

Mr Blackburn said there were "no two ways" of reading the supportive texts because Ms Nevin was friends with Mr Rush and his wife Jane Menelaus, and could have been expected to ask Ms Norvill why she had made claims hurting her "best and closest friends".

"You would expect some communication in these text messages saying, 'I'm sure Geoffrey wouldn't have done this.' But no. Ms Nevin is accepting," Mr Blackburn said.

He said the texts supported Ms Norvill's allegation that Ms Nevin had said during an alleged conversation about Mr Rush harassing Ms Norvill: "Oh, I thought Geoffrey had stopped doing that. Poor Jane."

During her stint in the witness box, Ms Nevin denied such a conversation took place and denied the texts suggested she believed the allegations.

Justice Wigney stopped Mr Blackburn at times during his closing submissions to play "devil's advocate", including to suggest a text from Mr Rush to Ms Norvill in June 2016 saying he was "thinking of you (as I do more than is socially appropriate)" followed by an emoji of its tongue hanging out needed to be read in the context of "playful" texts between the pair in 2014.

He said "if you just looked at this text alone and there is nothing else beforehand you'd be quite startled by it" but "context is everything".

Justice Wigney also appeared unpersuaded that allegations Mr Rush called Ms Norvill "scrumptious" or "yummy" would help him determine the issues in the case.

"I wouldn’t say yummy and scrumptious to anyone in my workplace, but I’m a boring lawyer, and Mr Rush is an actor in a theatrical workplace," Justice Wigney said.

The hearing continues.