Lawyers acting for Ben Roberts-Smith have suggested his former mistress made up a pregnancy to stop the war hero dumping her.
The woman - codenamed Person 17 - is facing another day of grilling by a barrister on behalf of Mr Roberts-Smith, who is suing several newspapers for defamation after they reported he had assaulted the woman.
The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times also reported claims Mr Roberts-Smith committed war crimes in Afghanistan between 2006 and 2012.
The 43-year-old denies all the allegations.
Person 17 has several times over two days been accused of telling "barefaced lies" by the Victoria Cross recipient's barrister.
She had previously told the court the pair's intense relationship in 2017 and 2018 had culminated in Mr Roberts-Smith deleting messages off her phone, making veiled threats, punching her, and taking naked photos of her while she was asleep.
On Thursday, Bruce McClintock suggested the woman had faked a pregnancy to maintain "a hold" on Mr Roberts-Smith.
Person 17 has told the Federal Court she miscarried in the days before she was due to travel to Brisbane to have an abortion as agreed, but hadn't told Mr Roberts-Smith as she wanted to break the news in person.
Mr McClintock put to the woman that she had waged a calculated campaign of deceit that included turning up to meet Mr Roberts-Smith on the day in question with a bandage on her arm, something the woman denies.
She only owned up to forgoing the termination when confronted by videos taken by a private investigator hired by Mr Roberts-Smith.
She soon told him she had miscarried.
"It was not something you volunteered ... you only said that because you'd been caught out," Mr McClintock said.
"No," Person 17 replied.
"Don't you think it is an appallingly dishonest thing to do to let a man think you were pregnant to him when you were not (anymore)?" Mr McClintock asked.
She agreed, but denied it was manipulative.
"Were you ever actually pregnant?" Mr McClintock asked.
"Yes," the woman replied.
She previously told the court she had done a pregnancy test in front of Mr Roberts-Smith.
Mr McClintock also accused Person 17 of inventing her allegation she was punched in the face by his client.
He suggested what actually happened was that she sustained a black eye earlier on the night in question when she hit her head on stairs during a drunken fall.
She had no memory of the night, Mr McClintock said, on which she also alleges Mr Roberts-Smith took naked photos of her and went through her purse.
"My client treated you with both kindness and concern that night," he said.
"While he was rifling through my diary? No, I don't think so," Person 17 replied.
Mr McClintock also quizzed her over her evidence that she had twice unsuccessfully tried to report the alleged assault to police.
"Your first step was to go to a journalist, wasn't it," he said.
"You've made up both of these visits to the police station ... to overcome the fact that you didn't tell anyone about the supposed assault before you told Mr McKenzie."
Person 17 said that wasn't correct.
"I'd told my husband and I did go to the police station on both of those occasions."
The trial continues.
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