Former federal Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann has reportedly delivered a warning to Brittany Higgins after being revealed as the “high-profile man” facing rape charges in Queensland.

Lehrmann, who has not been required to appear in court and remains on bail, faces two counts of raping a woman at Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, in October 2021, which he has denied.

Last Thursday, the Brisbane Supreme Court declined to overturn a magistrate’s decision that an ongoing non-publication order was not “necessary to protect the safety of [Lehrmann]”.

Lawyers for the 28-year-old had mounted a weeks-long legal effort to maintain Lehrmann’s anonymity after Queensland changed its laws a month ago to remove a ban on the publishing the names of people charged with certain sex offences unless they face trial.

The former federal ministerial staffer was the subject of national media attention after being charged with raping Higgins in the office of then defence industry minister Linda Reynolds at Parliament House in March 2019 while both were employed by the senator.

Lehrmann denied the allegations and the case ended in a mistrial. Prosecutors declined to proceed with a new trial out of concern for Higgins’ welfare.

The 28-year-old woman in the Queensland case has said she found information about Higgins’ case online and recognised Lehrmann as the person she said had unprotected sex with her without consent in October 2021.

Lehrmann allegedly introduced himself as “Bryce” when he met the woman at a Toowoomba strip club, she has told police. It was reportedly just weeks after he first appeared in court on the Higgins allegations.

Following the lifting of the Queensland non-publication order last Thursday, Higgins posted to social media a message of support for the woman at the centre of it.

“When I first found out about the alleged assault my heart broke for you,” she wrote on Instagram.

“To know that this has allegedly taken place while he was out on bail in 2021 is devastating. I note the fact you’ve decided to come forward despite seeing the horrific championing of this individual in the media all year. I am so, so sorry this allegedly happened to you.”

Brittany Higgins’ Instagram post.

Higgins added that Lehrmann was “charged with two counts of raping a woman in October 2021, with the case working its way through early committal proceedings at Toowoomba magistrates court since January”.

“He has not yet been committed to stand trial,” she wrote.

Lehrmann’s case had a brief mention in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Wednesday – the first time the charges had been heard since the Supreme Court ruling.

His lawyers were granted six weeks to review hundreds of files handed over by police.

The court had previously heard that Lehrmann’s defence sought the entire contents of the alleged victim’s phone and had later narrowed the request to messages exchanged in the six months before the pair met in person and the alleged offences were committed.

“There are some clerical issues with the data … the files are locked and I can’t combine the files and do searches for words or phrases,” Lehrmann’s solicitor, Rowan King said on Wednesday.

Ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, Lehrmann released a statement taking aim at Higgins’ latest remarks.

“The non-publication order we sought unsuccessfully last week would have ensured the subsequent prejudicial and often inaccurate reporting would not have occurred,” he said in the statement to The Australian.

“In particular, we have seen Ms Brittany Higgins blatantly prejudice a person’s right to a fair trial with a total disregard for how our justice system rightly operates with the presumption of innocence at its core.

“Her statement was public and widely reported.

“As such my team will be considering our position and the relief the justice system rightly has available to us now.”

The criminal justice inquiry into the handling of the Higgins’ charges, led by Walter Sofronoff KC, released a damning report in August, with nearly 200 pages of findings. In particular, it was scathing of the handling of the case by former Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold, who has since resigned.

“The recent ACT criminal justice inquiry and its findings should not be forgotten. The only verdict of any substance that’s been handed down this year was that of Mr Sofronoff’s condemnation of the behaviour of the DPP and Mr Shane Drumgold,” Lehrmann’s statement said.

Last week, barrister Andrew Hoare told the Brisbane Supreme Court that Lehrmann’s psychiatrist had “grave concerns” for his client’s mental health if he was named by media as facing rape charges.

Justice Peter Applegarth found that the magistrate had not errored when considering the “nature, degree and consequences” of the claimed risk to Lehrmann’s safety.

Applegarth also determined the magistrate was right to have considered the apparent inconsistencies between Lehrmann’s private claims about his mental health issues and his participation in four televised interviews between June and August this year.

Lehrmann’s Toowoomba charges have been adjourned until December 13.

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-with AAP