“I recall seeing the invoice,” he said.

Ten alleges Auerbach’s evidence is relevant to Lehrmann’s credibility in the defamation case as well as wider issues such as whether Lehrmann engaged in a potential abuse of process and contempt of court, which might affect the quantum of any damages if he won the lawsuit.

Federal Court Justice Michael Lee, who had intended to deliver his judgment in the defamation case at 10.15am in Sydney on Thursday, allowed Ten to call evidence from Auerbach on Thursday.

The court heard on Thursday morning that Lehrmann’s lawyers had issued a subpoena to Auerbach to produce a raft of documents, including in relation to a psychological injury claim Auerbach has said he settled against Seven on confidential terms after he left the network in August last year.

His solicitor Rebekah Giles told the court that Auerbach’s claim against Seven had alleged “sustained bullying [and] antisemitism over a significant period”.

“To comply with the subpoena, our client would have to pull together for the first time all of the documents relating to his claim against [Mark] Llewellyn and [Steve] Jackson and others,” Giles said.

Llewellyn is Spotlight’s executive producer, while Jackson was its supervising producer.

Giles said she had written to Lehrmann’s lawyers proposing a minor variation to the subpoena to “limit production”. His lawyers agreed to the change.

David Helvadjian, one of Lehrmann’s barristers, said the documents were relevant because Lehrmann’s team was “entitled to test whether or not that claim [by Auerbach against Seven] was a bona fide claim”. He said this was an issue relating to Auerbach’s credit as a witness.

The court adjourned briefly on Thursday afternoon after Lee asked Giles if she had ever acted for Higgins, a key witness in Ten’s defamation case, and questioned whether any conflict of interest arose. Giles returned to court and said she had satisfied herself she did not have a conflict.

Earlier on Thursday, Seven Network produced documents in answer to subpoenas issued by Ten last year that were re-agitated this year after Auerbach came forward.

Dr Matt Collins, KC, said Seven had now produced “a range of documents from November 2022 through to more or less the date of the first” Spotlight interview in June last year.

Seven had produced just one document “evidencing a communication between Mr Lehrmann, the star of the exclusive interview, [with Seven producers] over a … six or seven month preparation period”.

“That beggars belief,” Collins said.

“Is there proposed to be any explanation as to why it is that additional documents have been produced?” Lee asked Seven’s barrister, David Thomas, SC.

Seven filed an affidavit explaining why documents had been produced at this time and not last year.

Auerbach’s claims

In affidavits filed in court, Auerbach alleges Lehrmann provided him with more than 2300 pages of text messages between Higgins and her ex-boyfriend Ben Dillaway “on or about 18 December 2022 in Bridport, Tasmania, during a golf trip paid for by Seven”. He claims a round of golf cost $401.83.

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Auerbach’s claims have yet to be tested in court and he will be cross-examined by Lehrmann’s lawyers.

Auerbach told the court that Llewellyn “sent me a bundle of photographs via WhatsApp” when he was scripting a section of Spotlight’s first interview with Lehrmann. He said in an affidavit that the photos were screenshots of messages between Higgins and author and Herald columnist Peter FitzSimons, who is married to Wilkinson. FitzSimons helped negotiate a book deal for Higgins.

Auerbach told the court that he could identify a figure in the reflection of the laptop screen of a “bald head” and glasses frames. He said he recognised that face as Llewellyn’s.

Asked in court last year if he had given any documents to Seven, as contemplated under an exclusive interview deal Lehrmann signed with the network’s Spotlight program in April last year, Lehrmann said: “No, I just gave an interview.”

Ten alleges that Auerbach’s evidence, if accepted, forms the basis of a submission that Lehrmann lied to the court. It also alleges that if Lehrmann did leak the messages he engaged in a contempt of court and abuse of process.

Higgins’ text messages had been handed over to the Australian Federal Police under a search warrant as it investigated her claim she was sexually assaulted by Lehrmann in Parliament House in March 2019 while they were working as advisers to the then Liberal defence industry minister Linda Reynolds.

Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence. His ACT Supreme Court criminal trial for sexual assault was aborted in 2022 owing to juror misconduct and a second trial did not proceed owing to concerns about Higgins’ mental health.

If Lehrmann did leak the text messages, Ten alleges his conduct amounted to a contempt because he breached an implied obligation not to use the material for a purpose unrelated to his criminal trial.

Lehrmann launched defamation proceedings last year against Ten and Wilkinson, a former co-host of the network’s flagship current affairs program The Project, over a February 2021 interview with Higgins in which she accused a then-unnamed colleague of rape.

Seven’s response

A Seven spokesperson said on Tuesday that the network had “never revealed its source or sources and has no intention of doing so”, and it noted “Mr Lehrmann’s court testimony last year that he was not the source”.

Auerbach has also alleged that Lehrmann received tens of thousands of dollars in perks before he agreed to sign an exclusivity deal with Seven, including $10,000 in massages and reimbursement for sex workers and illicit drugs in January 2023. Seven has denied those claims.