Lisa Wilkinson argues her Brittany Higgins interview was 'oblique ...

Journalist Lisa Wilkinson has told the Federal Court she believed the episode of The Project in which Brittany Higgins detailed her rape allegation was "sufficiently oblique" so as not to identify Bruce Lehrmann.

Key points:Lisa Wilkinson is facing a second day of cross-examination in the defamation action She says she trusted Network Ten's legal advice regarding details in the interview Wilkinson told the court she had questions ready to ask Bruce Lehrmann had he responded

Wilkinson is facing a second day of cross-examination at a defamation trial brought by Mr Lehrmann against both her and Network Ten, over the broadcast in February 2021.

Mr Lehrmann was not named in the broadcast, but argues he was identifiable by other details.

His ACT criminal trial was aborted last year due to juror misconduct and there remain no criminal charges against him. 

Today, Wilkinson was challenged by Mr Lehrmann's barrister Matthew Richardson about whether the program identified Mr Lehrmann to people to whom Ms Higgins had not already disclosed her allegation.

"No, I feel we were sufficiently oblique," Wilkinson said.

Network Ten lawyers approved details in final broadcast

Lisa Wilkinson is facing a second day of cross-examination in the Federal Court. (AAP: Dean Lewins)

She also disagreed with Mr Richardson that people in the "Parliament House milieu" would try and use the details Network Ten included to identify the accused.

Those details were that the accused had worked with Senator Linda Reynolds and had moved with her from the Home Affairs to the Defence Industry portfolio, and that he was working in Sydney at the time of the broadcast.

Wilkinson said Network Ten's lawyers were involved in the final stages of the production, and no detail would be broadcast without their approval.

"I left those decisions to others more qualified than me," she said.

"I trusted that it was appropriate for those details to be in there."

Program gave Bruce Lehrmann 'fair and reasonable' 80 hours to respond

Bruce Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson for defamation.(AAP: Bianca De Marchi)

The exchange over whether Mr Lehrmann was identifiable in the broadcast followed further pressure over whether Network Ten gave Mr Lehrmann enough time to respond to the allegation.

The first request for comment was sent on the afternoon of Friday, February 12, three days before the broadcast.

Mr Richardson argued that the level of detail in the program, which was more than Samantha Maiden's article which broke the story on Monday morning for news.com.au, "increased the obligation" on Network Ten to give Mr Lehrmann enough time to respond.

"I believed 80 hours before broadcast to be a very fair and reasonable time for Mr Lehrmann to respond to us," Wilkinson said.

She disagreed with Mr Richardson that, had Mr Lehrmann agreed to an interview on the Monday, his contribution would have been "little more than a footnote" to the story.

"The Project team is an experienced team of senior professionals … who work to very tight deadlines," she said.

"I strongly believe that they would have very possibly dropped one of the segments prior to the 7PM segment, in order to facilitate Mr Lehrmann, if he wanted to come into the studio.

"I was actually preparing questions that afternoon in the possible event that Mr Lehrmann would agree to an interview."

Brittany Higgins's interview went to air on The Project in February 2021. (Supplied: Network Ten)

Yesterday, Wilkinson agreed she had wanted further investigation into parts of Ms Higgins's story but told the court it had not been her responsibility to follow those up. 

Her producer Angus Llewellyn previously faced two days of cross-examination in the witness box. 

He denied suggestions he had failed to pick up on alleged contradictions in Ms Higgins's interview and defended his efforts to contact people mentioned in the broadcast.

Wilkinson is being represented by separate lawyers to Network Ten.

Her evidence is expected to conclude today.

Earlier, the court heard the rest of the evidence was expected to occur on Monday and Tuesday next week, before final submissions on Thursday and Friday.

Meanwhile, Mr Lehrmann's legal team has also indicated it would take no further action after reviewing an alleged secret recording, obtained by Sky News, of a conversation between Ms Higgins's lawyer, fiance, and close friend.