Brittany Higgins has directly addressed the man she accuses of raping her, telling him “nothing was fine” after the alleged assault.

“Nothing was fine after what you did to me, nothing,” she said in court today.

Higgins has returned to the witness box after being unavailable earlier in the week.

Her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann is being tried by the ACT Supreme Court, charged with sexual intercourse without consent.

He has pleaded not guilty and denies having any sexual interaction with Higgins.

Higgins is facing continued cross-examination by Lehrmann’s defence lawyer Steven Whybrow.

She had been due to return to court on Monday but was unavailable.

The trial continued this week with other witnesses but the court has prevented proceedings from being published until after Higgins has completed her evidence.

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Higgins has previously told the court she and Lehrmann returned to Parliament House after a night out drinking with defence colleagues.

The former Liberal Party staffer said she fell asleep on the couch and woke up to Lehrmann having sex with her.

The trial was initially anticipated to run for between four and six weeks but could now be over in half that time.

Former coalition defence minister Linda Reynolds, Higgins’ boss at the time of the alleged assault, is due to give evidence in court on Tuesday.

Senator Michaelia Cash is also expected to be in the witness box early next week before the Crown closes its case.

Another former Liberal minister Steven Ciobo is no longer expected to give evidence, with the initial witness list of 52 now reduced to 32.

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