Mr Schneider - who is seeking a judicial review into his termination in July last year - has not sought damages, and has instead sought to be given his old job back.

But Ragunath Appudurai, who is acting for the city council, said damages was an adequate remedy and would be a more satisfactory and practical outcome if Mr Schneider was to win his case.

Mr Schneider was 18 months into his four-year contract when he was terminated in a 4-3 vote of councillors, and was paid out a year's salary.

The whole legal case centres around whether a clause in Mr Schneider's contract - which states he could be terminated "for no reason" - was valid when read in conjunction with section 94C of the Local Government Act.

Mr Schneider's lawyer, David Grace QC, said there had been a failure of natural justice/procedural fairness.

But Mr Appudurai argued the council contended that procedural fairness was provided on several occasions over several months. Earlier in the hearing, Justice Michael McDonald said he would "completely" withdraw his strong indication that he could make a decision on the case by June 1 if the parties were to start calling on witnesses to give evidence.

At a court hearing last week, the council agreed to halt attempts to appoint a new CEO until a decision in this case was handed down - avoiding a potential situation of a newly appointed CEO losing their job to reinstate Mr Schneider.

After an agreement to rely on submitted affidavits, Tuesday's hearing continued with the expectation it would be completed this week.

Mr Grace said reading the affidavits as a whole gave the impression the action that councillors took was to terminate for cause but "under the cloak" of no cause. The case continues on Wednesday.

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