The psychiatrist who spoke to Benjamin Glenn Hoffmann the morning after an alleged shooting spree says the accused gunman didn't show signs of psychosis or significant mood disorder during the interview.
Prosecutors allege Mr Hoffmann murdered four men between 5:40pm and 6:20pm in Darwin on June 4, 2019.
Royal Darwin Hospital director of psychiatry Robert Parker told the jury he and Mr Hoffmann talked for about an hour the next morning.
"At that time, he was not suffering from a significant disturbance of mood or a psychosis or an active cognitive impairment," Dr Parker said.
Footage of the interview, captured by the body camera of a police officer in the same room, shows Mr Hoffmann handcuffed to a hospital bed covered in bandages.
In the tape, Mr Hoffmann told Dr Parker he "wasn't thinking right", had been "poisoned" and his life had been threatened.
Dr Parker said that in response to questions, Mr Hoffmann told him he enjoyed "material and emotional comfort" which the psychiatrist said was "consistent with a personality issue rather than a serious disturbance of mood".
He said none of his observations indicated Mr Hoffmann had a mental impairment caused by brain damage or involuntary intoxication.
In his opening address, defence lawyers Jon Tippett QC told the jury the "central issue" in the case was Mr Hoffmann's "state of mind" at the time of the alleged shooting spree.
The nine-week trial resumed today following a week-long adjournment.
Mr Hoffmann has pleaded not guilty to all 14 charges against him.
'Significant amount' of illicit drug detected
A toxicologist told the jury blood samples from Mr Hoffmann showed he had consumed a "significant amount" of methylamphetamine prior to his arrest.
The court heard the samples were taken from the accused gunman around 9pm on June 4, 2019.
Dr Dimitri Gerostamoulos from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM) told the court "the most common form" of methylamphetamine was "ice", which was typically consumed by smoking or injecting but could also be mixed with a liquid and drunk.
The jury heard in VIFM's analysis, methylamphetamine was detected in the blood sample at .9 milligrams per litre and amphetamine at .2 milligrams per litre.
Dr Gerostamoulos told the court although it was "not possible to specify exactly how much" methylamphetamine the accused had consumed; it would have been a "significant amount".
Dr Gerostamoulos said the "most likely explanation" for the presence of the amphetamine was that Mr Hoffmann's body had started metabolising the methylamphetamine, which converted it to amphetamine.
He said the drugs would have been taken "relatively recently" before the sample was taken and estimated it would have been "within the last 12 to 24 hours".
The court heard a WA-based laboratory, ChemCentre, also analysed the blood sample and returned different results: .77 milligrams per litre for methylamphetamine and .12 milligrams for amphetamine.
When questioned about the discrepancy, Dr Gerostamoulos said it was "entirely expected when you have different laboratories analysing the same specimen".
Mr Gerostamoulos said his lab ran a comprehensive analysis and there was "no indication" of any other drugs present in Mr Hoffmann's blood sample.
The trial is scheduled to run for nine weeks.
