The ACT's Victims of Crime Commissioner has defended her show of support for Brittany Higgins during the trial of Bruce Lehrmann, who was previously charged with raping her.
A board of inquiry into Mr Lehrmann's prosecution was established after his high-profile trial was abandoned late last year.
There are no findings against him and he maintains his innocence.
The inquiry concluded its substantive public hearings today by focusing on the conduct of the commissioner, Heidi Yates, who acted as a support person for Ms Higgins during the investigation and subsequent trial.
Ms Yates was criticised publicly and by some police for walking into court alongside Ms Higgins, and for standing next to her when she read a statement outside court after the trial was aborted.
Ms Yates told the inquiry today there were several times when criminal justice agencies could have raised concerns about her role, but no objections were made.
"If at any point … any concerns had been raised with me about the support I was providing Ms Higgins, I would have absolutely considered those," she said.
"Public faith and understanding in my office is incredibly important to me."
Ms Yates said that, in the absence of any concerns, she did her best to fulfil her duty to support a complainant, "including if they choose to walk into court".
"Are there learnings from this case regarding the risk of misunderstanding of what it meant for me to be walking by her? Yes, there are," she said.
During his evidence to the inquiry last week, Detective Superintendent Scott Moller said that, after reading the legislation governing Ms Yates's role, he no longer believed she had acted inappropriately or breached her duties.
Ms Higgins's speech outside court
However, Ms Yates conceded that, in hindsight, she might have been wrong to stand next to Ms Higgins when she spoke outside court after the trial was vacated.
Ms Higgins asserted that her allegation was true, despite the fact that a retrial was still pending at that stage.
Ms Yates told the inquiry her main concern was Ms Higgins's welfare, after she had what Ms Yates described as a "panic attack" when Chief Justice Lucy McCallum discharged the jury.
"It had been my duty to get her safely back to her accommodation, and that was what I wanted to do," she said.
"I wasn't focused on what she may or may not say."
The counsel assisting the inquiry, Erin Longbottom, asked Ms Yates if she ought to have asked Ms Higgins what she intended to say.
"In hindsight, yes," Ms Yates replied.
"I'm very open to the likelihood that, if I had more information to consider, I may have made a different decision."
Concerns over dealings with police
Earlier, Ms Yates revealed more details about Ms Higgins's dealings with police during the investigation.
She told the inquiry that Ms Higgins called her on May 5, 2021, and was growing anxious that officers were often calling her without warning and asking her difficult questions with little notice.
"Every time her phone dinged or rang, she was concerned it might be police," Ms Yates said.
"[She was concerned] that, in the middle of something else or in a public place, she might be asked a question which took her back to traumatic events."
Ms Yates was also asked about Ms Higgins's second evidence-in-chief interview with police, after which Superintendent Moller told her not to speak to the media.
Ms Yates said he told Ms Higgins that, if the matter did not proceed to court, "it will all be for nothing".
"I observed a change in Ms Higgins's response," she said.
"She started to slump in her chair, she started looking down and I believe she started to cry."
Ms Yates said she intervened to assure Ms Higgins she had already achieved much in her general advocacy about sexual assault, and was concerned that she not blame herself if the case did not proceed.
The inquiry is approaching the conclusion of public hearings.
The legal representatives for the witnesses involved will now begin preparing written submissions for the inquiry chair, Walter Sofronoff.
Mr Sofronoff's report to the ACT government is due on July 31.
