Peter Falconio and Joanne Lees were ambushed in the outback

It has interrupted the testimony of Mr Falconio's girlfriend, Joanne Lees, 30, at the Darwin hearing to decide if Bradley Murdoch should stand trial.

Miss Lees says she managed to escape after the pair's van was flagged down on an Australian outback road in 2001.

Mr Murdoch, 45, of Broome, western Australia, denies murder and abduction.

The body of Mr Falconio, 28, of Hepworth, West Yorkshire, has never been found but prosecutors claim there is evidence that he was murdered.

Miss Lees had been expected to return to the stand on Wednesday to continue her evidence and to be cross examined.

There is, no doubt about it, a great deal of hostility, a great deal of suspicion here directed against Joanne Lees BBC correspondent Michael Peschardt World watches courtroom drama

But the process has been delayed by legal arguments over suppression orders issued by the court to stop the media reporting some of the evidence against Mr Murdoch.

The matter now looks set to be referred to Australia's Supreme Court for a decision.

BBC correspondent in Australia Michael Peschardt described the Australian media coverage of the hearing so far as "quite extraordinary".

He referred to the front page of Northern Territory News local newspaper, which carried the headline "We smoked dope before killing", above a picture of Miss Lees arriving at court.

Miss Lees had previously mentioned in court that she and Mr Falconio had smoked cannabis before their van was flagged down.

He said: "She's just a witness in this and a victim but she looks for all the world as if she's the person on trial.

"There is, no doubt about it, a great deal of hostility, a great deal of suspicion here directed against Joanne Lees and those sort of headlines and those sort of pictures are only going to increase the pressure on her."

'Gunshot'

On Tuesday, Miss Lees, from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, described what she saw and heard on an isolated stretch of road at Barrow Creek, north of Alice Springs on the night of 14 July 2001.

She told the magistrate she and her boyfriend had been driving their van towards Darwin when a four-wheel drive pulled alongside them, with the driver gesturing for them to stop.

The man said he had seen sparks coming from the exhaust of the van and he and Mr Falconio walked to its rear.

Miss Lees said she heard a bang, "the sound of a gunshot" and saw a man with a gun through the van window.

Miss Lees said the gunman put a gun to her head and tied her up, then moved her into his four-wheel drive, telling her to be quiet or else he would shoot her.

But as the man was distracted by something at the side of the road, she slowly slid out through the vehicle's door and ran into nearby bushes, she said.

She told the court how she could hear the gunman looking for her as she spent hours hiding curled up under a bush.

Eventually, she heard her attacker drag something along the gravel and then drive off, she said.

The committal hearing is expected to last a total of six weeks.

Magistrate Alasdair McGregor will then decide whether evidence is strong enough to merit a full jury trial.