Bruce Lehrmann is being tried in the ACT Supreme Court, charged with sexual intercourse without consent.

He has pleaded not guilty and denies having sex with Higgins.

Originally expected to run for between four and six weeks, prosecutor Shane Drumgold told the court he would be in a position to close his case in half that time.

Closing arguments are expected to begin early this week after the list of witnesses was cut from nearly 60 to 32.

The court is expecting to hear evidence from coalition senators Linda Reynolds and Michaelia Cash for whom Higgins worked as a ministerial staffer.

During the second week of the trial, more than 20 witnesses spoke before Higgins returned to complete her cross-examination.

She had been unavailable earlier in the week.

On Friday, Lehrmann’s defence lawyer Steven Whybrow questioned Higgins about inconsistencies in her version of events during and after the night of her alleged rape.

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Higgins initially told police she visited a medical centre and had tests done after her alleged assault but the court later heard she did not follow through with her appointments.

“I had intention of going but I was so depressed I couldn’t really get out of bed,” she said.

Whybrow put to her that she did not see Lehrmann inside Senator Reynolds’ office and she was not sexually assaulted by him.

“He was in there. He was physically violating me. He was in my body. I know,” she said.

Before dismissing them for the weekend, ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum reminded the jury panel not to conduct their own research or discuss the case with anyone.

She flagged broad interest in the trial would result in many headlines which jurors should ignore, encouraging them to have a social media detox instead.

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