Nicky Winmar's barrister claims AFL great was defending himself

A Victorian court has heard claims that former AFL great Neil Elvis "Nicky" Winmar was defending himself on the night he is alleged to have assaulted a woman.

A contested hearing continued today after Mr Winmar pleaded not guilty to charges including unlawful assault and intentionally causing injury over an alleged incident in May last year.

Yesterday, the woman told the Bendigo Magistrates’ Court she was "fearful" of her life as Mr Winmar smashed her head into a door, dragged her by her ponytail and grabbed and twisted her arm.

During questioning today, barrister Dermot Dann KC put to the woman a different version of events, suggesting she "lost control" and started throwing punches at Mr Winmar.

"He was trying to protect himself and fend off your punches," Mr Dann said to the woman.

"One of the punches caused a cut to his face, which was observed by police."

"No, that is not true. I did not," the woman said.

Mr Dann also suggested to the woman that she had made multiple false allegations to the court to "make [the] incident sound as bad as possible for Mr Winmar".

The woman said she had not mentioned some aspects of her evidence to police before because it was painful to relive.

A friend that the woman called on the night gave evidence to the court and said the woman sounded "hysterical" and "incredibly upset" on the phone.

They said Mr Winmar could be heard in the background of the phone call saying: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

During cross-examination, Mr Dann questioned the friend's credibility.

On the witness stand, the friend admitted to giving misleading evidence in court, in separate proceedings.

Magistrate Trieu Hunyh interjected during a combative exchange and asked the witness to "calm down a little bit".

Further witnesses are expected to be called when the hearing continues.