"Not guilty, your honour," Maxwell said, after the judge asked her how she wished to plead to the charges. She waived the public reading of the indictment.

Maxwell appeared by video from the Brooklyn jail where she is being held. She appeared tired, with her hair pulled back and was wearing a brown T-shirt and tortoiseshell glasses.

Alison Moe, a federal prosecutor, said the government's investigation was ongoing, but did not currently anticipate seeking an amended indictment expanding the charges against Maxwell.

Annie Farmer, who has accused the defendant of enabling her abuse, said Maxwell "has never shown any remorse for her heinous crimes" and told the court "the danger Maxwell poses must be taken seriously".

"She is a sexual predator who groomed and abused me and countless other children and young women," Farmer told the court.

The wealthy socialite's lawyers sought a bail package including a $US5 million ($7.1 million) bond and home confinement with electronic monitoring. Prosecutors wanted Maxwell to remain in detention and opposed her bid for bail, calling her an "extreme" flight risk with no reason to stay in the US.

Prosecutors said her wealth and multiple citizenships - American, French and British - also supported the need for detention.

Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend and long-time associate, was arrested on July 2 in Bradford, New Hampshire, where authorities said she was hiding out at a 156-acre property she bought in December in an all-cash transaction with her identity shielded. Maxwell has been held since July 6 at the Metropolitan Detention Centre, a Brooklyn jail.

Epstein was charged in July 2019 with sexually exploiting dozens of girls and women from 2002 to 2005 at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida. He died by suicide on August 10 at age 66 in a Manhattan jail.

Prosecutors accused Maxwell of luring girls as young as 14 by asking them about their lives, schools and families and taking them shopping or to movies - acts, they said, that served as "the prequel" to Epstein's abuse. Epstein has been linked socially to several powerful figures including President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton and Britain's Prince Andrew.

Lawyers for Maxwell also said bail was justified because she might contract COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in jail.

Lawyers for Maxwell said she moved to the New Hampshire property and changed her phone and email address in order to escape "unrelenting and intrusive media coverage". Prosecutors said on Monday that when FBI agents went to arrest Maxwell, they had to forcibly enter her home, where she hid in an interior room, and found a mobile phone wrapped in tin foil in an apparent effort to evade detection.

Maxwell also used former British military personnel to guard her in New Hampshire, prosecutors said.

Her lawyers have previewed Maxwell's possible defences.

These include that her alleged misconduct occurred long ago and would be hard to prosecute, and that she was shielded by Epstein's 2007 plea agreement with federal prosecutors in Miami, which covered "any potential co-conspirators".

❏ Support is available for those who may be distressed by phoning Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline 1300 789 978; Kids Helpline 1800 551 800; beyondblue 1300 224 636.

Reuters