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Jurors overseeing a high-profile Australian murder trial have traveled to the isolated shore where the victim was discovered.

Toyah Cordingley was repeatedly stabbed with a sharp object and placed in a sandy resting place with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has heard.

Her body were discovered by her father the following day on Wangetti Beach – a stretch of shoreline nestled between the tourist centres of Cairns and Port Douglas.

Rajwinder Singh, 41, denies murdering Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in Far North Queensland.

Court Inspection to Crime Scene

The jury of 12 individuals plus three alternates attended the beach along with the judge and legal counsel on the start of the week in Queensland.

In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and sweltering heat, the judge wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and sneakers rather than a wig and robes.

Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys chose casual shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.

Scene Details

The jurors were guided around three-quarters of a mile along the beach to observe where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.

Upon arrival, as they traveled to the site, four markers indicated where the vehicle had been parked.

The visit was intended to help the jurors become familiar with key locations in the trial and no official evidence was presented.

Context of the Trial

Last week, the court heard that the day after Ms Cordingley's body were found, the accused departed from Australia to India – leaving behind his wife, three children and relatives.

He was out of contact until he was arrested four years later, the state said.

State Case

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

The pharmacy worker was found wearing a bikini, with her attire and belongings absent.

Those items were removed by the killer to avoid detection, the prosecution allege.

Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was found secured to a post concealed in shrubland about 100 feet from the grave.

No murder weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been found.

But the state says the evidence – though indirect – was made up of findings that indicated Mr Singh "and eliminated others."

This will involve testimony that genetic material obtained from a object at the scene was 3.8 billion times more probable to have originated from Mr Singh than a random member of the public.

The jury has already heard testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device left the beach after the killing – and that its travel corresponded with those of a blue Alfa Romeo belonging to the accused.

Mr Singh's sudden departure from Australia also suggested his involvement, the state has claimed.

Defence Stance

"While authorities were discovering Toyah's body, he was arranging... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," the prosecutor said last week as he opened his case.

The defense is has not provided testimony, but in his opening address, the defense attorney the lawyer described his client as a "calm" and "compassionate" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."

He also hinted at testimony to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an plainclothes agent he had witnessed assailants assault 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 other people "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.

Additional Evidence

Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, Marco Heidenreich, whom police excluded as a possible suspect, was among those who testified last week.

The trial was informed he was an initial police suspect – and that he had been interrogated from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was involved in his partner's disappearance, prior to her remains were discovered.

Photographs depicting Mr Heidenreich on a walk with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been shown to the jury, with an expert saying he was certain the pictures were authentic and had not been altered in any manner.

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