A security guard checking on the welfare of a young ministerial staffer found her "completely naked" and in a foetal position in her boss's parliamentary office, a rape trial has heard.
Brittany Higgins worked for then federal Liberal minister Linda Reynolds when she was allegedly raped inside Parliament House in March 2019.
Ms Higgins's former colleague, Bruce Lehrmann, is accused of sexually assaulting her and is now on trial in the ACT Supreme Court.
He has pleaded not guilty and denies that any sexual activity took place.
Earlier this week, the court heard from a guard and others who worked at Parliament House at the time of the alleged assault.
The court suppressed public reporting of much of this week's hearings to prevent it from influencing Ms Higgins's evidence, which she finished giving today.
Ms Higgins had been unable to attend court for most of the week.
A parliamentary security officer, Nikola Anderson, told the court she let Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann into the building on the night of the alleged rape.
The pair had spent the evening drinking with other colleagues after work before arriving at Parliament late at night.
Ms Anderson said she only noticed Ms Higgins was drunk when she was unable to put her shoes back on after removing them for a security scan.
The guard told the court that, later in the night, she carried out a welfare check on Ms Higgins after another guard on duty said he had seen "something strange".
Ms Anderson said she entered Senator Reynolds's ministerial suite and saw Ms Higgins "lying on her back completely naked on that lounge".
"As I've opened the door, I think the air from the door has made noise or whatnot," she said.
"She's opened her eyes, she's looked at me and then she's proceeded to roll over into the foetal position facing the desk."
The incident triggered an investigation, and Mr Lehrmann later lost his job in Senator Reynolds's office for breaching security policies.
'She was composed. I was concerned'
Senator Reynolds's chief of staff, Fiona Brown, also gave evidence this week.
She told the court that, on the following Tuesday, three days after the alleged assault, she met separately with Mr Lehrmann and Ms Higgins to discuss their late-night entry to the building.
Ms Brown told the court that Mr Lehrmann had denied being drunk when he arrived at Parliament that night.
"He said he came back to the office to drink whiskey," she said.
Ms Brown said Mr Lehrmann had breached security protocol on another, unrelated occasion. As a result of that earlier incident and the latest breach, she told him to collect his belongings from the office and leave.
She told the court she was unaware of the alleged sexual assault until she met Ms Higgins again, on Thursday.
At that second meeting, Ms Brown said Ms Higgins told her, as she was leaving the office, "I remember him on top of me".
Ms Brown said she offered Ms Higgins support.
"She was composed. I was concerned," Ms Brown told the court.
"I said: 'You're within your rights, if something's happened to you that you don't want to have happened, you're within your rights to let us know'.'"
Ms Brown had to leave the court during her testimony because she became distressed.
She burst into tears when she was asked whether Ms Higgins had texted her to thank her for her support.
Ms Higgins told another colleague of alleged rape
Another witness who worked in Senator Reynolds's office also confirmed he was aware of Ms Higgins's allegation soon afterwards.
Christopher Payne was a Defence Department liaison officer assisting Senator Reynolds, who was defence industry minister at the time.
He told the jury he spoke with Ms Higgins about what happened to her on the night she and Mr Lehrmann entered the parliamentary office.
"I waited for her to regain her composure and, once she had done that, I said to her, I said … I recall saying: 'Do you mind if I ask you a very direct question?'" he told the court.
"And I said: 'Did he rape you?'"
"And she said: 'I could not have consented, it would have been like f***ing a log,' and at that point she was then very upset again."
Mr Payne told the court that Ms Brown had told him that Ms Higgins had been found in a state of undress.
However, it was not until his conversation with Ms Higgins that he realised what had allegedly happened.
The court also heard evidence this week from other witnesses, including a cleaner and friends who socialised with Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann on the night of the alleged assault.
The trial has run for two weeks and hearings are expected to continue for another week.
