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Jurors overseeing a high-profile Australian murder trial have traveled to the remote beach where the victim was located.

The 24-year-old victim was multiple times attacked with a sharp object and placed in a shallow grave with little or no hope of surviving, the jury has heard.

The remains were discovered by a family member the following day on Wangetti Beach – a section of shoreline nestled between the popular destinations of Cairns and Port Douglas.

Rajwinder Singh, 41, has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Cordingley on a weekend in October 2018 in northern Australia.

Court Inspection to Beach

The jury of 12 individuals plus three alternates attended the location along with the judge and barristers on Monday morning in Queensland.

In a acknowledgment of the tropical conditions and temperatures above 30C, Justice Lincoln Crowley wore a T-shirt, sport shorts and trainers rather than a wig and robes.

Both the lead prosecution and defense attorneys selected casual shirts, bottoms and baseball caps.

Location Particulars

The court members were guided around 1.2km north up the sand to see where Ms Cordingley's body were discovered.

Upon arrival, as they arrived by bus, four markers indicated where the victim's car had been left.

The visit was designed to help the jurors become acquainted with important sites in the trial and no testimony was presented.

Context of the Case

Previously, the Cairns Supreme Court heard that the following day Ms Cordingley's remains were discovered, the accused flew from Australia to India – leaving behind his spouse, family and parents.

He was not heard from until he was arrested years after, the prosecution said.

State Case

It is alleged that Mr Singh, who was working as a nurse in the town of Innisfail, south of Cairns, had a confrontation with Ms Cordingley.

The pharmacy worker was discovered wearing a bikini, with all her other clothes and belongings absent.

Those objects were removed by the killer to conceal evidence, prosecutors contend.

Her pet, Indie, which Ms Cordingley had taken to the beach for a walk, was located secured to a post hidden in shrubland about 30 metres from the burial site.

The weapon was found, and no eyewitnesses have been found.

But the state says the evidence – though circumstantial – was made up of findings that pointed to Mr Singh "excluding other suspects."

This will involve evidence that DNA recovered from a stick at the scene was extremely more likely to have come from Mr Singh than a unrelated individual of the public.

The court has previously been told testimony suggesting that Ms Cordingley's mobile device departed the scene after the incident – and that its travel matched those of a vehicle belonging to the accused.

Mr Singh's quick exit from Australia also suggested his involvement, the state has claimed.

Defense Position

"As the police were finding Toyah's remains, he was organizing... a hurriedly arranged single journey back to India," the prosecutor said previously as he began arguments.

The defence is has not present any evidence, but in his opening address, Mr Singh's barrister Greg McGuire portrayed his defendant as a "calm" and "caring" man, who was in the "wrong place at the unfortunate moment."

He also foreshadowed evidence to come subsequently that, after his apprehension, Mr Singh told an undercover officer he had seen two masked men assault Ms Cordingley and then had fled in terror – something he said was his "gravest error."

The defense attorney has also said he will give evidence about individuals "both known and unknown" who should come under investigation.

Further Testimony

Ms Cordingley's boyfriend at the time, the witness, whom police excluded as a person of interest, was among those who testified last week.

The trial heard he was an initial person of interest – and that he had faced questions from Ms Cordingley's father about whether he was implicated in his girlfriend's vanishing, even before her body were discovered.

Photographs depicting the witness on a hike with a friend on the date Ms Cordingley went missing have been presented to the court, with an specialist saying he was certain the photos were genuine and had not been altered in any way.

The case will resume to the more conventional setting of the courthouse on the next day.