Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Erin Patterson is grilled under cross-examination after revealing her side of the story following fatal beef Wellington lunch

Justice Christopher Beale has told the jury it’s likely Patterson will be in the witness box all week and possibly next week too.

Justice Beale said once evidence is completed, he will have legal discussions with the parties while the jury is out.

‘Those discussions will include talk about if any more evidence is required and what direction he needs to give the jury regarded to law,’ he said.

Justice Beale said after all the evidence is completed closing addresses would commence.

He predicted next week will be full due to the public holiday and the week after Justice Beale said there may be more evidence before closings.

‘Which could each take a couple of days and take up that week,’ he said.

‘And then the jury needs to deliberate.

‘How long is a piece of string, you take all the time you need.’

Dr Rogers has shown Patterson (pictured) several photos which had previously been exhibited.

These photos depict mushrooms and one image depicted a photo of a set of scales next to a dehydrator tray.

Dr Rogers also showed a separate police search photo of a set of scales.

Patterson agreed the scales in both photos were the same.

Patterson was also asked to clarify if two images depicting mushrooms were different mushrooms.

The accused killer agreed the mushrooms were different.

An image also depicted mushrooms on a set of scales with the weight being 255mg.

Dr Rogers showed Patterson another image of mushrooms.

Dr Rogers said expert witness Dr Tom May said the mushrooms depicted in the image looked like death caps ‘at a high level of confidence’.

‘I suggest to you that these are death cap mushrooms which you foraged,’ Dr Rogers said.

‘That’s not correct,’ Erin said.

Dr Rogers suggested Patterson foraged for death cap mushrooms in Loch after a death cap sighting was posted on plant identification website iNaturalist.

Dr Rogers suggested Patterson dried and turned mushrooms into powder so she could test how to secretly include them in meals.

Patterson claimed she used other foods in the dehydrator.

‘I can’t be specific about that but I was not just dehydrating mushrooms,’ she said.

Patterson claimed she tried to dry ‘apples, banana, quite a lot of different types of fruit’.

Dr Rogers put it to Patterson that she only ever used the dehydrator to dry mushrooms but Patterson disagreed.

Patterson admitted she secretly put dried and powered mushrooms in muffins, spaghetti, stew and brownies.

‘I was trying to get different types of vegetables into my children’s bodies,’ Patterson said.

Dr Rogers (pictured) suggested Patterson performed a factory reset on Phone B prior to dumping the dehydrator at the Koonwarra Transfer Station.

The prosecutor is pressing Patterson to identify whether an image of a dehydrator seized from the tip is hers.

‘I presume this is the one I put in [the tip],’ Patterson said.

Dr Rogers suggested Patterson rushed from hospital to dump the dehydrator because she was aware she had dried death cap mushrooms in it.

‘I didn’t know that [death cap mushrooms were in the dehydrator],’ Patterson said.

‘You knew they were death cap mushrooms,’ Dr Rogers said.

‘You were pretty keen to get rid of any evidence, you lied to police, because you knew if you told police the truth it would implicate you in deliberately poisoning your lunch guests.’

‘No,’ Patterson responded.

Crown prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers has commenced cross-examining Patterson.

Patterson agreed she bought the dehydrator from Hartly Wells – Betta Electrical Leongatha.

Patterson has teared up when she was asked if she intended to kill or harm Don and Gail Patterson and Ian (pictured) and Heather Wilkison.

Mr Mandy asked Patterson the questions about each individual and she responded ‘no’ to each question while sobbing.

Patterson also denied deliberately picking death cap mushrooms.

Patterson also said she lied to police about foraging for mushrooms.

‘They were both lies,’ she said.

Mr Mandy asked Patterson if she lied when she said she only cooked one batch of beef Wellingtons.

‘No I did not lie,’ Patterson said.

‘Were they all the same?’ Mr Mandy asked.

‘Yes,’ Patterson responded.

‘Did you lie about the Asian grocer purchase?’ Mr Mandy asked.

‘No,’ Patterson responded.

‘Did you lie about using those mushrooms in the Wellingtons?’ Mr Mandy asked.

‘No I didn’t,’ Patterson responded.

‘Did you lie about the kids eating them?’ Mr Mandy asked.

‘No I didn’t,’ Patterson responded.

‘Did you pretend to be sick?’ Mr Mandy asked.

‘No I didn’t,’ Patterson said.

‘On leaving hospital did you think anyone ate death caps?’ Mr Mandy asked.

‘No I didn’t,’ Patterson responded.

‘Were you reluctant to get treatment on July 31?’ Mr Mandy asked.

‘On the first visit but not the second,’ Patterson said.

‘The children?’ Mr Mandy asked.

‘Initially I was reluctant, but once they explained to me the concern I wanted them to come in,’ Patterson said.

The trial was briefly paused.

Mr Mandy (pictured left) asked Patterson about the dehydrator.

Patterson said the dehydrator was the same one she took photos of and shared images with online friends.

Mr Mandy asked if Patterson lied to police about the dehydrator.

‘It was (a lie),’ she said.

Mr Mandy repeated some dialogue from the police interview:

‘Do you know anything about a dehydrator in your house?’ Mr Mandy said.

Patterson responded: ‘Yes [those were lies]’.

‘Well I had disposed of it a few days earlier in the context of thinking maybe mushrooms that I’d foraged for the meal I’d prepared were responsible for making people sick,’ she said.

‘It was this stupid knee jerk reaction, but I was just scared and shouldn’t have done it.’

Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC asked Patterson about the use of her phone during the August 5 police search.

‘So the general principal was that it had to be out on the table in front of where I was sitting,’ she said.

‘I couldn’t just be playing with it generally.’

Patterson said she wanted to clarify if her daughter had a ballet lesson and asked police if she could text a ballet mum.

Patterson said she was granted access to the phone.

‘[That was] quite early in the search, maybe an hour or so in,’ she said.

Erin Patterson, who returned to the witness box wearing a paisley muumuu, agreed Simon told her on the Sunday that Don and Gail (pictured) were in Korumburra hospital on fluids.

Patterson said she learned the pair were moved to Dandenong hospital on Monday and on Tuesday afternoon, Patterson said she learned the couple were then moved to the Austin ICU.

‘It was clear to me there had been a progression of symptoms, it seemed likely to me they were getting sicker,’ Patterson said.

The commencement of today’s murder trial session has been delayed due to an apparent power outage in parts of Morwell.

Proceedings were due to start at 10.30am.

Erin Patterson’s defence barrister, Colin Mandy SC, is pictured entering the court this morning.

Patterson on Wednesday told the jury she spoke about her health with her lunch guests ‘right at the end of the meal’.

‘I mentioned I had an issue a year or two earlier where I feared I had ovarian cancer,’ she said.

‘I’m not proud of this but I led them to believe that I might need some treatment for that over the next weeks and months, I did (mislead them).

‘They all showed a lot of compassion about that and then we saw Simon’s car driving into the driveway, so Ian said why don’t we pray for Erin and that’s what we did.’

Patterson said she was embarrassed and ashamed that she didn’t have control over her body or what she ate.

‘I lied, I was ashamed, I was embarrassed, I shouldn’t have lied to them,’ she said tearfully.

On Wednesday, Patterson said the conversation with Simon made her think about all the times she had used the dehydrator and dried foraged mushrooms with it weeks earlier.

‘What if they got in the container with the Chinese mushrooms,’ she said.

‘Maybe that had happened, I was thinking maybe that’s how this all…’

Patterson said after she dumped the dehydrator at the tip she felt ‘scared and responsible’.

‘I just felt really scared,’ she said.

‘I was frantic, people had got sick.’

Patterson said she got the dehydrator and then drove to the Koonwarra Transfer Station tip (pictured).

The jury heard the dehydrator was located and seized by police.

Debris found within the appliance tested postive for death cap mushrooms.

On Wednesday, Patterson told the jury she spoke to estranged husband Simon Patterson (pictured) on August 2.

She said she had a conversation with the kids about why they were at the hospital, and why everyone else was unwell.

Patterson said there was concerns her lunch had made people unwell.

Patterson explained how she had previously used a dehydrator to dry mushrooms.

‘(Simon) said to me “is that how you poisoned my parents using that dehydrator?”‘ Patterson said while sobbing in court.

‘I said “of course not”.’

Erin Patterson (pictured) will resume giving evidence in her murder trial shortly after today’s proceedings kick off at 10.30am.

Lead defence barrister Colin Mandy SC is expected to finish questioning his client before the prosecution lead by Dr Nanette Rogers SC (pictured in yellow scarf) will have an opportunity to cross-examine the accused killer.

Patterson in the witness box has been a big-ticket item as far as members of the public are concerned.

A crowd (pictured) started to gather outside Morwell Court, a small regional courthouse about two hours east of Melbourne, from 7am with people eager to see Patterson give evidence.

The trial is sitting at the Supreme Court at Latrobe Valley Law Courts instead of the main supreme court in Victoria. As a result, seats to watch the proceedings are limited.