Disgraced former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann has lost his appeal against a court ruling that he probably raped colleague Brittany Higgins.

The 30-year-old had sued Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson for defamation over an interview with Higgins on The Project in 2021.

Justice Michael Lee found Higgins’ claims Lehrmann had raped her inside Parliament House two years earlier were established on the balance of probabilities.

“Having escaped the lions’ den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of going back for his hat,” Lee said in his headline-grabbing decision in April 2024.

Lehrmann appealed the finding during a two-day hearing in August, arguing Lee erred in finding Ten and Wilkinson had legally justified the imputation of rape.

On Wednesday, after months of deliberations, the Full Court of the Federal Court handed down its decision.

“The court found that the primary judge did not err in any of the ways alleged by Mr Lehrmann in the grounds of appeal and the submissions in support of him,” Justice Michael Wigney said.

“The full court has found that the way in which the primary judge dealt with and determined the proceedings was not procedurally unfair to Mr Lehrmann.”

Wigney said the facts, as found by Lee, fell within the terms of Network Ten and Wilkinson’s truth defence.

The appeal was dismissed with costs, which means Lehrmann may face another six-figure legal bill.

Wigney spoke for 10 minutes, outlining the case and the grounds for the appeal. Further details of the judgment will be made public later on Wednesday.

Earlier, the appeal judges had been told Lee’s factual findings differed from the case run against Lehrmann, including that he had committed a “non-violent” rape against Higgins.

“The primary judge found that the rape occurred in a particular way that wasn’t put to Mr Lehrmann in evidence, and he was taken by surprise as to the nature of the rape,” Lehrmann’s lawyer Zali Burrows said.

But Ten barrister Matt Collins KC argued the ruling depicted a violent rape, labelling the suggestion that Lehrmann may have given different testimony as “astonishing”.

The former political staffer had been quizzed on the main facts of the case found by Lee: That there was sex between the pair, Higgins did not consent, and Lehrmann had been reckless as to her consent.

“The sting of the [defamatory] imputation resides in the act of intercourse without consent, not in any detail of it,” Collins told the appeal hearing.

Both sides took issue with the definition of rape employed by Lee, with Burrows maintaining it was inconsistent with an ordinary person’s understanding.

For their part, Ten and Wilkinson urged the appeal judges to find that Lehrmann was not only reckless as to Higgins’ consent – as Lee found – but knew she wasn’t consenting.

They rejected Burrows’ claims that Lehrmann would be entitled to more than $20,000 in damages if his appeal is successful because he had become a “national joke” as a result of the allegation.

Collins argued that Lehrmann raped Higgins when he knew she was seriously intoxicated, didn’t stop when she became aware and left her in a state of undress.

“That is not a man with any reputation in respect of sexual morality that would warrant compensation,” he said.

Lehrmann denies he sexually assaulted Higgins. A criminal case against him in 2022 was abandoned without any findings against him.

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-with AAP