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Members of the jury overseeing a high-profile Australian homicide case have been taken to the isolated beach where the young woman was located.

Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly stabbed with a sharp object and buried in a sandy resting place with little or no chance of survival, the jury has been told.

Her body were found by a family member the next day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of coastline between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.

The accused, 41, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.

Jury Inspection to Beach

The panel of 10 men and two women plus several back-up jurors attended the beach along with the judge and barristers on the start of the week in Queensland.

In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a T-shirt, athletic wear and sneakers rather than traditional court attire.

Both the prosecuting and defense attorneys selected casual shirts, bottoms and headwear.

Scene Particulars

The court members were led around three-quarters of a mile north up the sand to observe where Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered.

Upon arrival, as they traveled to the site, four markers showed where the victim's car had been parked.

The visit was intended to help the jurors become acquainted with important sites in the case and no testimony was presented.

Background of the Trial

Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, Mr Singh flew from Australia to India – abandoning his spouse, three children and parents.

He was not heard from until he was arrested four years later, the prosecution said.

State Argument

It is claimed that the defendant, who was working as a nurse in the community of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.

The victim was discovered wearing a bikini, with her attire and most of her possessions absent.

Those items were taken by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution contend.

Her dog, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a stroll, was found secured to a post hidden in bushland about 100 feet from the grave.

No murder weapon was ever recovered, and no one have been identified.

But the state says the crown's case – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."

This will involve evidence that DNA obtained from a object at the scene was 3.8 billion times more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a random member of the population.

The jury has already heard testimony indicating that Ms Cordingley's phone left the beach after the killing – and that its movements matched those of a vehicle belonging to the accused.

Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also pointed to his involvement, the prosecution has claimed.

Defence Position

"While authorities were discovering Toyah's body, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged one way trip back to India," Mr Crane said last week as he began arguments.

The defence is has not present any evidence, but in his initial statement, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his client as a "placid" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."

He also foreshadowed evidence to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh informed an undercover officer he had witnessed assailants attack Ms Cordingley and then had run away in fear – something he said was his "gravest error."

The defense attorney has also said he will testify about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under suspicion.

Further Evidence

Ms Cordingley's partner, Marco Heidenreich, whom authorities excluded as a possible suspect, was among those who testified previously.

The trial was informed he was an initial police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's parent about whether he was implicated in his partner's vanishing, prior to her body were found.

Photographs showing the witness on a walk with a companion on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the jury, with an expert saying he was confident the pictures were genuine and had not been doctored in any way.

The trial will resume to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on Tuesday.