The man accused of killing Jill Meagher in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick has pleaded not guilty to her murder but admitted one charge of rape.
Adrian Bayley's plea came at the end of a one-day committal hearing in Melbourne Magistrate's Court.
Mr Bayley (41) pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder and two additional counts of rape but pleaded guilty to one rape charge.
He has been committed to stand trial in the Victorian Supreme Court for the alleged murder and rape of Ms Meagher (29).
Ms Meagher's husband Tom quickly left the court room after Mr Bayley entered his plea.
Her parents, George and Edith McKeon, and her brother Michael were also in court.
Mr Bayley sat in the dock behind protective glass, flanked by three guards.
Prosecutor Gavin Silbert told the court Ms Meagher was dragged into the Hope St laneway by Mr Bayley, where he raped and strangled her at around 1.40am on September 22nd last.
A witness, whose home overlooks the laneway, told the court she was in bed when she heard a woman's voice outside say “get out of there.”
She said the woman sounded drunk as her voice was "not clear and prolonged." She joked with her husband that people were having sex outside.
"We were just joking," she told the court.
The court was told that 10 minutes later the witness heard footsteps, and did not hear the woman's voice again.
Mr Silbert told magistrate Felicity Broughton that Mr Bayley left Ms Meagher's body in the laneway and returned home to get a shovel and his car.
He allegedly returned at 4.22am, put Ms Meagher's body in the boot and drove 50kms out of the city to Gisborne South, where he left her body on the side of a dirt road.
Pathologist Matthew Lynch told the court Ms Meagher was found fully clothed and lying on her side.
Dr Lynch said the bruises and haemorrhaging on Ms Meagher's body indicated she had been held around the neck with force for a long time.
The court heard Ms Meagher's ability to resist an attack would have been limited by her level of intoxication.
Ms Meagher had been socialising with work colleagues until shortly before coming into contact with Mr Bayley.
The court was told that during a 10-hour police interview, Mr Bayley admitted to raping and strangling Ms Meagher, and then directed detectives to her body.
Mr Bayley's lawyers have previously expressed concern about the "almost unprecedented" level of public interest in the case in both the traditional media and online.
