Roberts-Smith failed in his bid to sue Nine Newspapers in 2023 for a series of articles alleging that he had committed war crimes, with the Federal Court instead finding, on the civil standard of the balance of probabilities, that the allegations were true.

The Victoria Cross recipient is claiming a miscarriage of justice in his failed defamation case against Fairfax Media after recordings surfaced last month of investigative journalist Nick McKenzie allegedly admitting to accessing information relating to the veteran’s legal strategy before the trial.

Both McKenzie and Roberts-Smith arrived in the Federal Court in Sydney on Friday for another day of tense questioning.

McKenzie took the stand on Friday morning, and was cross examined by Arthur Moses SC, acting on behalf of Roberts-Smith.

The reporter took his time to answer questions carefully as he sat across from the former soldier who was flanked by several family members.

McKenzie was questioned by Mr Moses about his dealings with Danielle Scott, a close friend of Roberts-Smith’s former wife Emma, and the reason he had recorded phone conversations with her.

“I was pretty paranoid … initially … I did not know her, but she was assisting me in a litigation so I recorded her and gave that to my lawyer to assist … and so he could assess it,” he said.

McKenzie told the court it was “his practice” at the time when Ms Scott contacted him he would tell his lawyers what she had told him.

McKenzie was cross-examined for an hour on Thursday afternoon, in which he told the court that journalists “always try to act within the law”, however, said there are “occasions” where journalists might do things that “conflict with the law”.

McKenzie said it was a “complicated answer”, and later explained there were “instances where it’s our job to find information that’s been hidden”.

Mr Moses went on to ask McKenzie if he as a journalist had ever used subterfuge to access information – to which McKenzie replied – “on occasion” if it was “in the public interest”.

Roberts-Smith is contending his ex-wife Emma Roberts had access to his email account and that she and her friend Emma Scott passed his privileged messages on to McKenzie.

Roberts-Smith is seeking to reopen his appeal, led by the “fresh evidence” – a recording of McKenzie made public last month.

In the bombshell recording, McKenzie tells a witness that he was given the information by Ms Roberts and Ms Scott, and that he is breaching his ethics by divulging the information.

“They’ve actively like briefing us on his legal strategy, in respect of you,” he says in the recording.

“We anticipated most of it, one or two things now we know which is helpful.

“I’ve just breached my f**king ethics in doing that, like this has put me in a sh*t position now, like if Dean (Nine lawyer Dean Levitan) knew that and Peter (Nine lawyer Peter Bartlett) knew that, I’d get my arse f**king handed to me on a platter.”

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by any lawyers in Nine’s legal team acting on the case.

The hearing continues.