The remarkable aside by Gordon Wood at the end of a 1998 paid television interview was not played to the jury at his 2008 murder trial as the judge ruled it was prejudicial.

But the infamous comment, made to journalist Paul Barry as the cameras were still rolling, was seen by a court on Friday, almost 20 years after it first aired, as part of Mr Wood's case for malicious prosecution.

Mr Wood, 54, is suing the state of NSW for millions of dollars in damages, claiming the police investigation and the Crown case against him were "flawed" and "ridiculous", carried out under political pressure and intense media interest.

The former assistant to the late stockbroker Rene Rivkin was found guilty of murdering his model girlfriend Caroline Byrne, 24, by throwing her in a spear-like manner from The Gap in the early hours of June 7, 1995.

He was sensationally acquitted by the Court of Criminal Appeal in 2012 after spending 3½ years in jail.

On Friday, the NSW Supreme Court watched the interview from Channel Seven's long-defunct Witness current affairs program, in which Barry grilled Mr Wood on various parts of his account of what happened the night Ms Byrne died.

Those in court for the hearing, being presided over by Justice Elizabeth Fullerton, got to see one of the classic moments of the Australian small screen.

The interview is being used by Mr Wood's lawyers as part of his case because it was only after seeing the broadcast that Irish artist John Doherty came forward to police.

At the time of Ms Byrne's death, Mr Doherty lived in a studio near The Gap. He told police he observed a young woman holding her head in her hands as she sat on the curb under a street light across the road from his flat and arguing in a combative style with a tall man who was shouting at her. He said a second man sat on a fence. He said he watched as she walked between the two men towards The Gap.

Mr Doherty said he had not seen the tall man's face but told police that, from behind, his height, build, head shape and haircut were similar to those of Mr Wood.

While he could not state the date on which he saw the incident, he said it was the same night he heard a scream and, later, a helicopter, and that the following day he spoke to his neighbour about a body having been found.

In acquitting Mr Wood, the appeal court noted Mr Doherty's "evidence was important to the Crown case".

Mr Wood's lawyers will argue there is an inherent risk in such identification evidence and that it should not have been used by the prosecution.

In his judgment, Justice Peter McClellan, the most senior appeal judge who acquitted Mr Wood, noted that Mr Wood had much longer hair in 1995 than he did when interviewed in 1998.

"There is every chance that Doherty's memory has been influenced by the images he saw of the applicant well after 1995," Justice McClellan said.

"I am not persuaded that Doherty's evidence establishes that he saw either Ms Byrne or [Mr Wood] that evening."

Mr Wood is expected to give evidence on Monday. It will be the first time he has given evidence in any judicial proceeding.