When a large pool of potential jurors was summoned to Victoria's Supreme Court last Monday, they were warned the trial ahead would not be for the faint of heart.
"You will be dealing with a case that by definition involves death," Justice Michael Croucher said.
The "exceptionally squeamish" were urged to consider seeing themselves out.
This week, as a series of forensic specialists took to the witness stand, the trial of Greg Lynn made good on the judge's warning.
Mr Lynn, a 57-year-old former Jetstar pilot, stands accused of murdering two elderly campers in Victoria's high country about four years ago.
Prosecutors argue he murdered Carol Clay, 73, and Russell Hill, 74, at a remote campsite on the evening of March 20, 2020.
Mr Lynn's legal team argue the deaths were tragic accidents, set in motion by separate struggles over a gun and then a knife.
Both parties agree that Mr Lynn then burned the pair's campsite, dumped their bodies at a second location and returned about six months later to set fire to their remains.
Hands and knees in scour for remains
Evidence this week focused on that area, a wide clearing in dense forest referred to as the Union Spur Track site, which specialists scoured for human remains late in 2021.
"It was hands and knees across this location," George Xydias, a forensic officer who specialises in fire and explosion scenes, told the court.
By the time up to a foot of soil from the location had been excavated and sieved, the team had recovered "a significant amount of intensely heat-affected biological matter," he said.
Teeth, bone fragments and a wristwatch recovered from a cavity at the foot of a felled tree were among the charred remains.
Dr Dadna Hartman said a partial DNA profile could only be yielded from one bone fragment by the time some of the material arrived for analysis at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine.
"If we have items that haven't been exposed to heat through burning, we should be able to recover a DNA profile, but that also depends on the age and antiquity of those samples," the molecular biologist explained.
"However, if those samples have been exposed to extreme heat or fire, it makes them less likely to be able to yield DNA for analysis."
In analysis, Dr Hartman concluded DNA from the bone fragment matched Mr Hill's profile.
Tests of bone fragments found at Bucks Camp across two searches in March 2022 were found to match Ms Clay's.
Roadside cameras, phone data in police investigation
Police also revealed how data from two sets of roadside cameras and a mobile phone linked Mr Lynn to the campers' disappearances.
The motion-detecting cameras along the Great Alpine Road were intended to enforce entry fees for a nearby ski resort, an IT specialist said.
But when police accessed the images, they zeroed in on vehicles captured by one set of cameras across a 20-minute period on the morning after the alleged murders, the court heard.
That was based on nearby activity from Mr Hill's phone, which Detective Leading Senior Constable Abbey Justin said effectively reconnected to the network around the Great Alpine Road.
Of the 12 vehicles captured in the 20-minute span, only one travelled in a manner "consistent with the path of phone data", the officer confirmed.
The senior constable said the registration of the blue-grey Nissan Patrol snapped on the cameras belonged to Mr Lynn.
However when the same officer went to Mr Lynn's Caroline Springs home in July, she noticed the same vehicle had been painted light brown.
Case's emotional toll
While much of the evidence this week focused on forensic and technical material, testimony from Russell Hill's widow, Robyn, highlighted the emotional toll of the case.
Ms Hill was landed in a unique position — called to give evidence about the man she was married to for five decades, as well as the woman he was having an affair with.
Ms Hill, dressed in a floral blouse and black cardigan, was given special permission by Justice Michael Croucher to speak from seats usually reserved for the media instead of from "the rickety witness box".
"She's a little bit frail, apparently," he told the jury, regaling them with a story of how a witness once fainted and fell backwards from the witness box, only to be saved by a judge's associate who "shot across like Batman".
"Could you just pull the microphone a little bit closer to yourself?" the judge asked Ms Hill.
"I don't want to eat it," she shot back, drawing laughter from the courtroom.
There was happiness in Ms Hill's voice as she told the courtroom about her marriage to Mr Hill in 1969, his career in the logging industry, their three children and Mr Hill's passion for flying drones and high-frequency radio.
Ms Hill recounted the last time she saw her husband, saying she helped pack for what she thought was his solo camping trip to the Wonnangatta Valley. She even gave him cash to buy lunch on the way.
Then Ms Hill's demeanour changed.
The widow's voice shook as she described what happened days later, when she tuned in to a high-frequency radio call, expecting to hear her husband's voice, the reassurance that he was safe.
She heard nothing.
The following day Ms Hill tuned in again.
"Did you hear his voice?" Crown prosecutor Daniel Porceddu asked.
"No," she said, softly.
After reporting her husband missing, Ms Hill received even more devastating news when she realised her husband wasn't alone. He was with Ms Clay, a woman he once claimed was his cousin but was actually a long-term mistress.
Ms Hill confirmed Mr Hill had promised to bring the affair to an end but carried on with the secret relationship. She was also asked questions about her husband's deeply personal health issues.
"As far as you were aware, that was it, he stopped seeing Carol Clay?" Mr Lynn's barrister Dermot Dann asked.
"That's right," she said.
The trial will enter its third of up to six weeks when it resumes on Monday.