The couple were on a backpacking holiday

Superintendent Jeanette Kerr told the committal hearing at Darwin magistrates' court it had been hoped the hypnosis would create new leads.

She also said she had found tape at the scene three months after the incident.

Bradley Murdoch, 45, denies shooting 28-year-old Mr Falconio and abducting Ms Lees in the outback three years ago.

The hypnosis happened in the weeks after the alleged murder, Ms Kerr said.

"It was an attempt to try and [get] more information from Ms Lees in relation to the offender of the matter."

It was not clear whether police had gleaned any useful new information.

But Ms Kerr was able to find what she believed to be new evidence when she returned to the remote outback town of Barrow Creek three months after the alleged killing.

The superintendent looked at the tree Lees said she had hid behind to escape her attacker.

"I approached the tree and bent down to walk under the tree and as I bent down... I saw two pieces of black tape on the ground," Ms Kerr said.

"I immediately believed that they were the two pieces of black tape Ms Lees had described as biting off the manacles that she was restrained with."

Mr Murdoch denies the charge and the six-week committal hearing will determine if he will face a full trial.