New Zealand tourist Warriena Wright made a decision "to climb to certain death" when she stepped over accused murderer Gable Tostee's balcony railing, her accused murderer's lawyer says.
The defence alleged Ms Wright had just hit, or at the very least attempted to hit, Mr Tostee in the head with the clamp from a telescope and he was acting in self-defence by forcing her outside.
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Jury urged to consider Warriena's fear
A jury is told that if Warriena Wright climbed over Gable Tostee's balcony due to fear of what he would do to her, then he is guilty. Nine News
The 30-year-old's barrister, Saul Holt, QC, argued that "decision" was not rational and was completely inconsistent with any perceived danger.
If that was the case, Mr Tostee could not be found guilty of murder or manslaughter, he said.
He took issue with many elements of the prosecution's interpretation of the "key six minutes" of audio leading up to the moment the 26-year-old fell to her death in the early hours of August 8, 2014.
As Ms Wright stood on the other side of the railing of the 14th floor balcony she'd earlier laughed and taken selfies on, facing outward, Mr Holt said she had no chance of making it to the balcony below.
"She made a decision, essentially, I have to put it this way, to climb to certain death and that was not a rational or proportionate or a reasonable decision," he said.
"It wasn't like there was something that looked like a ladder. She just climbed off into the darkness and lowered herself down and from the moment she did that, it wasn't that she was in a dangerous situation. She had made a decision essentially that was going to kill her at that point."
Someone would have needed to have been chasing her with a knife for her actions to be reasonable, Mr Holt argued.
The Crown's case was that Mr Tostee so terrified his Tinder date inside the apartment that he was as responsible for her death as if he had pushed her, despite them being separated by a locked door.
But Mr Holt argued the act of forcing an "increasingly erratic" Ms Wright onto the balcony and locking the door actually an attempt to "de-escalate" the situation and to label it intimidation was "nonsensical".
Crown prosecutor Glenn Cash had earlier taken the jury through the all-important section of recording, using it to allege Mr Tostee used "excessive force" in restraining her and intended to cause her grievous bodily harm by restricting her breathing, possibly with a forearm.
He argued Ms Wright, who'd been throwing ornamental rocks at the defendant before a violent struggle escalated and he restrained her on the floor, was by this point defending herself, after originally being the aggressor.
Mr Cash did not suggest Mr Tostee, who pleaded not guilty and declined to give evidence, had intended for her to die when he placed her on the balcony but that an ordinary sober person should have foreseen it, saying that proved unlawful killing.
He argued the restriction of breathing was an intent to cause grievous bodily harm, even if briefly, saying that proved murder.
But Mr Holt accused the Crown of downplaying the seriousness of Ms Wright's "attack" on her accused killer.
He argued that, after restraining Ms Wright on the ground and "angrily" ordering her out of his apartment, Mr Tostee allowed her to get up to leave.
"You're lucky I haven't chucked you off my balcony you goddamn psycho little bitch," Mr Tostee said during the struggle.
"I'm gonna walk you out of this apartment just the way you are, you're not going to collect any belongings.
"If you try to pull anything I'll knock you out, I'll knock you the f--- out."
It was at this point, Mr Holt said, that Ms Wright did try something, to hit him with the clamp.
"He says, in circumstances where he would have no reason to make it up ... you hit me in the head," Mr Holt said.
He pointed to pathologist Diane Little's failure to find any bruising around the deceased's neck, internally and externally, along with several comments made by both Mr Tostee and Ms Wright on tape to cast doubt on the Crown's initial claims of choking.
He said the Crown had "backpedalled away from that furiously during the course of this trial" and asked them to reject any suggestion of a choke hold.
In the Crown's closing arguments Mr Cash said Mr Tostee's actions could be consistent with "restriction of breathing" but not long enough or forceful enough to leave marks.
The defence and prosecution both finished their closing submissions on Friday, before Justice John Byrne began instructing the jurors.
He reminded them only to consider the evidence presented at trial and ignore outside sources.
The jury was allowed to leave, to return on Monday at 11am.