A jury trial for a man accused of killing a fellow mental health ward patient at Canberra Hospital is set to be scrapped.
The significant development in the murder case is a result of the territory's prosecuting office notifying the ACT Supreme Court it "will be agreeing to a special verdict".
"That will mean the matter will largely proceed as a hand-up or paper proceeding," prosecutor Trent Hickey said on Tuesday.
Aleu Mapiou, who was 18 at the time of his alleged crimes, previously denied murdering 38-year-old Dusko Culibrk and had yet to enter pleas to two counts of preventing the carrying out of a forensic procedure.
In several recent directions hearings, prosecutors told the court the office was considering an expert report and its position on whether to run a trial set to have begun next week.
Special verdicts in previous cases have included an accused person being found not guilty by way of mental impairment, a defence Mapiou's lawyers previously indicated they were exploring.
On Tuesday, one of Culibrk's supporters sitting in the public gallery cried upon hearing confirmation of the news in open court.
Mapiou has been remanded in custody since his arrest minutes after the alleged murder, which occurred around midnight on November 13, 2022.
At the time, Mapiou and Mr Culibrk were both patients in Canberra Hospital's adult mental health unit and the pair were allegedly involved in an altercation before police were called.
Mapiou is now set to be arraigned on Monday next week.
Justice Belinda Baker will be given written material from parties, who should reconvene in the following days to discuss "what the nominated term should be".
