Australian woman Erin Patterson is on trial accused of killing three relatives and seriously injuring another by allegedly serving a lunch containing poisonous mushrooms
The prosecution says Ms Patterson, 50, served beef wellington and ate from a smaller and different coloured plate from her four guests
One of the guests later questioned this after they fell ill, asking "does Erin have a shortage of crockery?", the court hears
Ms Patterson, 50, is facing three murder charges and one count of attempted murder - all of which she denies
The parents of her estranged husband, Don and Gail Patterson, both died as well as Gail Patterson's sister, Heather Wilkinson. Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, became ill but survived
Ms Patterson's children were not present at the lunch at her home in Leongatha, Victoria, but later ate leftovers with the mushrooms scraped off, the jury hears
BBC outside court as toxic mushroom lunch trial begins
Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, reporting from court
Court 4 - where the trial is being held - is smaller than would usually be used for major trials.
For example there are only six seats allocated each day for the media - and these are being allocated by ballot.
The rest of us are sitting in an overflow courtroom where we can see the barristers and judge on a TV screen - and hear all of the proceedings.
After a lot of information, the jury has been give a break as the court adjourns for lunch.
The prosecution will continue their opening statement after the break - we'll be back in about an hour to bring you the updates.
Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, reporting from court
While Erin Patterson was at the hospital, a doctor "asked Ms Patterson if she had used wild or foraged mushrooms. She denied this", the prosecution says.
Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, reporting from court
The prosecution says medical tests showed Erin Patterson was "moderately dehydrated" and appeared to have a mild gastro illness but blood tests did not suggest she was very unwell.
Doctors began treating Ms Patterson with a drug called NAC - designed to protect the liver, the prosecutor says.
The jury hears that the accused said "I don’t want this. I don't want all these fluids" despite being told it was to protect her liver from ingesting poison.
Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, reporting from court
The jury hears that doctors were very concerned for the Pattersons' children, who had eaten leftovers from the lunch.
As we heard earlier, Erin Patterson had said the children had only had the meat, potato and green beans - but no mushrooms or pastry. She said she had scraped the mushrooms off because the children did not like them.
The jurors are told doctors were keen to get the Patterson children into hospital as a precaution - but that Erin Patterson protested it was unnecessary and at one point became emotional.
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers says: “She did not appear to be concerned about the children’s health but rather about stressing them out."
The Patterson children were later assessed at Monash Medical Centre and had no signs of illness.
Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, reporting from court
The jury is told that police took leftovers from the beef wellington lunch they found in a bin at Erin Patterson’s home and took them to Leongatha Hospital.
Tiffanie Turnbull
Live reporter
The prosecution says on the Monday morning - almost 48 hours after the lunch on Saturday - Erin Patterson was called by her brother-in-law.
He asked where the mushrooms came from, the prosecution tells the court.
"The accused said that were two sources of mushrooms," prosecutor Nanette Rogers says - fresh mushrooms from local Woolworths, and dried mushrooms from an Asian grocery somewhere near Melbourne.
Ms Patterson later told a witness she didn't remember which grocer.
Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, reporting from court
The prosecution says a doctor at the Leongatha Hospital that Erin Patterson had visited called the police.
He gave the officers Ms Patterson’s home address.
Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, reporting from court
The prosecution says when Erin Patterson visited hospital, she told staff: "I haven’t come prepared to be admitted to hospital, I was coming to be checked."
“She was adamant she would not stay,” though was told she was at risk given how critically ill the others were.
The jurors are shown a CCTV still image of a doctor and nurse at the hospital door discouraging Ms Patterson from leaving. She signed a form discharging herself, against medical advice, says the prosecution.
Katy Watson
Australia correspondent, reporting from court
The prosecution says while at hospital, Ms Patterson told doctors her children hadn’t been present at the lunch but had eaten some of the leftovers the next day - but the mushrooms had been scraped off as the children didn’t like mushrooms, the court hears.
Medical staff said the children needed to be brought to the hospital as a matter of priority because they’d eaten the food, albeit with the mushrooms scraped off, the prosecution says.
Tiffanie Turnbull
Live reporter
On the Monday morning, Erin Patterson rang her estranged husband Simon Patterson, the prosecutor says, and asked to talk.
She told him she had been having diarrhoea every 20 minutes and thought she needed to go to hospital, asking Simon to take her.
He'd been with his sick parents all night, so asked her to go herself. Prosecutor Nanette Rogers tells the jury Ms Patterson went to the Leongatha Hospital - where Mr and Mrs Wilkinson were at that time - around 8:00.
The doctor, realising she had been at the same lunch his desperately ill patents had been, asked to admit her to hospital, says the prosecution, but Ms Patterson refused.
“She kept saying that she had not come prepared to be admitted to hospital, she was just coming to be checked," the prosecutor says.
Katy Watson
Australia correspondent, reporting from court
The court hears that the accused, Erin Patterson, served her children meat, mash and green beans on Sunday at 17:30, that she said were leftovers from the meal with the Wilkinsons and Pattersons.
The prosecution then asserts that the children's meal was not contaminated with death cap mushrooms.
Tiffanie Turnbull
Live reporter
The prosecution outlines Erin Patterson's movements on the day after the lunch.
Nanette Rogers says Erin Patterson's children found her drinking coffee at the dining table that morning.
"She said she was sick with diarrhoea and they may not be able to go to church that morning," says Dr Rogers.
Her estranged husband called later that day to tell her his relatives were in hospital, and asked how she was, the court hears.
Ms Patterson said she had felt unwell since the previous afternoon, and was needing to go to the toilet every 20 minutes, all night long, says Dr Rogers.
Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, reporting from court
We are getting of a picture of what was unfolding in the healthcare system, according to the prosecutor.
The Wilkinsons and Pattersons were in different hospitals, but doctors were talking to each other and using the information to set up treatment plans using “a working diagnosis of death cap mushroom poisoning”, says the prosecution.
Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, reporting from court
The court hears a decision was taken initially not to give guest Donald Patterson a drug called silibinin - a treatment for death cap mushroom poisoning - "as there was not sufficient evidence to confirm ingestion of death cap mushrooms".
By midnight that day he had been moved to intensive care, the prosecution says.
Katy Watson and Simon Atkinson
Reporting from court
Jurors have heard from the prosecution that during his medical assessment Donald Patterson, who had eaten his portion of lunch and about half his wife's, reported to doctors he had vomited upward of 30 times since midnight.
He had to go to the bathroom during the medical assessment.
He received "aggressive" treatment at Dandenong Hospital, about 100km from Leongatha, from where he had been transferred.
According to the prosecution, the doctor for Mr Patterson, who later died, said his symptoms were indicative of serious toxin syndrome caused by the ingestion of death cap mushrooms.
Katy Watson
Australia correspondent, reporting from court
The prosecutor says two of the alleged victims, Heather and Ian Wilkinson, queried whether the accused was also in hospital, as she’d eaten the same meal as them.
Katy Watson and Simon Atkinson
Reporting from court
Heather Wilkinson spoke to her nephew Simon Patterson after she felt ill, and told him that Erin Patterson had put her food on a noticeably different plate at the lunch, the prosecutor says.
Simon was told Erin's plate had colours on it, the prosecution says.
"Does Erin have a shortage of crockery? I have been wondering about it since yesterday," Ms Wilkinson said, according to the prosecutor.
After a night of vomiting and diarrhoea, Heather and Ian Wilkinson called Don and Gail Patterson at about dawn the next day.
The Pattersons said they had similar symptoms and had called an ambulance, and they made their way to hospital.
The Wilkinsons tried to call paramedics too, but they were taking too long, so Simon Patterson took his aunt and uncle to hospital.
Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, reporting from court
The court has now resumed - and we’re going to hear more about how the alleged victims ended up in hospital.