Davy Chea would later tell the court that she had been the monk's lover for six months, that he had given her cash, promised to leave the vocation to live with her and threatened suicide when she tried to end the relationship.

But his promises had come to naught.

As Ven Chuon Huot bunkered down in his room that afternoon, the commotion attracted the attention of Abbot Long Sakhone, the president of the Cambodian Buddhist Society NSW, Sakal Men, and three monks visiting from Cambodia, and simmering political tensions spilled into the open.

The monks counselled Ven Chuon Huot that he would have to disrobe, but he refused.

Instead, he wrote to the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection alleging that the monks had been violent and engaged in sexual activity, and aligned himself with a new candidate to become the next president of the Buddhist society two months later.

Justice John Sackar, who found no basis to the allegations against the monks, would describe the December elections as "a chaotic and crowded affair" and "plagued with irregularities".

When Sakal Men stood up to make his speech, he was interrupted every time he mentioned "Davy and Huot".

Witnesses testified that one woman was observed writing on a number of ballot papers, that people voted more than once, that handfuls of ballot papers were thrown into the box at a time. Of 676 membership forms, 491 were filled out on the day of the election.

Sakal Men was comfortably dislodged from the presidency by Meng Eang Thai, who used sleight of hand to replace the Abbot with the Assistant Abbot - appointing the former to "Honorary Abbot" and the latter to "general manager" in order to avoid breaching the constitution, he told the court.

Outraged, the ousted faction declared the presidency vacant and their own candidate elected unopposed, but when they arrived at the temple the incumbents had dug in by changing the locks.

Security cameras were installed throughout the temple, with the control panel in Ven Chuon Huot's room.

For a people who had fled the Khmer Rouge, the installation of cameras was a sinister development.

Michael Michell, who is married to a Cambodian and attends the temple, said there was real fear among some in the community that the images were being returned to Hun Sen's regime.

"It was a real low point," Mr Michell said.

"They were worried that they were being surveilled from afar. People felt insecure."

Alongside this battle of the Buddhists, a separate dispute had emerged in what was once the parent organisation - the Khmer Community of NSW.

The association had been set up to provide pastoral care to new arrivals to Australia, but its processes had become opaque under its president of 10 years, Lina Tjoeng.

Membership had dwindled to around 30 people consisting mostly of Ms Tjoeng's family and Cambodian dancers, and people who had applied to become members years ago were still waiting for the forms to be processed.

One Cambodian community member testified in an affidavit that when people asked Ms Tjoeng for help filling out forms, she told them to see her at her office at MLC Lawyers and then charged commercial rates.

"They were shocked to be charged commercial legal rates for her assistance," Vanny Meas wrote in an affidavit.

"They ... wondered why the Khmer Community was being run as a private business."

In November 2015, a member of the executive Virak Um nominated himself for president and the heavens opened.

According to his affidavit filed with the NSW Supreme Court, the association secretary accused him in an email of having "a documented history of lying" and "misrepresenting the Khmer community of NSW".

The president threatened him with defamation based on an open letter to which he had been copied by people seeking to have their membership processed.

When the election was held in late December, up to 100 Cambodian people gathered at the Golden Palace Seafood Restaurant in Cabramatta, though none of them had been permitted membership.

Ms Tjoeng called the police.

Mr Um testified that only her family and business associates of herself and husband were allowed into the restaurant, and she won the election unanimously.

But the following day a larger group of Cambodians endorsed an "alternative committee" and the NSW Office of Fair Trading recorded the registration of the Khmer Community of NSW as "in dispute".

Ms Tjoeng took legal action against Fair Trading and the Khmer Community of NSW.

She said in her affidavit that Mr Um only nominated for president after the committee had decided to close membership applications for the year.

His actions in putting the organisation's status in dispute jeopardised funding for Cambodian dancers, Seniors week and volunteers, she said. The Sydney Morning Herald has asked her for comment.

By 2017, both disputes involving the community had landed in the NSW Supreme Court, where a receiver was appointed to take over the affairs of the Cambodian Buddhist Society of NSW and orders were made for membership to be opened to the Khmer Community of NSW.

Ven Chuon Huot is said to have started his own temple in Canley Heights. He could not be reached by the Sydney Morning Herald.

The security cameras have been disabled.

Thin Em, who stood uncontested for the presidency of the Cambodian Buddhist Society last year, said the temple was about $400,000 in debt as a result of the dispute. He expects that paying off the debt will take years.

Last month Sorn Ying was elected president of the Khmer Community of NSW. His first act was to reinstate the membership of Mr Um.

The committee will now set to work providing assistance to the elderly, new arrivals and victims of domestic violence.

"It's a new beginning," Mr Ying said.