Rolf Harris has admitted in a London court that he may have sexually admired his daughter’s 13-year-old friend when she joined his family on an overseas holiday in the late 1970s.

Harris was grilled by prosecutor Sasha QC on Wednesday about his claim that he’d had a 10-year consensual affair with Bindi’s friend.

The main complainant in the case insists he first indecently assaulted her on the 1978 trip to Canada, Hawaii and Australia, and then over the subsequent decade.

“This was child abuse, grooming, you effectively psychologically dominated this girl into womanhood,” Ms Wass said to the 84-year-old.

The prosecutor suggested that when Harris said Bindi’s friend looked great in a bikini on the holiday, he was actually saying she had a great body because the bathing suit was just a few pieces of small fabric.

“I suppose so,” Harris replied in a soft voice.

This case, as you know, is not a talent show.

Asked whether that meant, in hindsight, he admired his daughter’s friend sexually at the age of 13, the entertainer said: “It’s possible, yes.”

Ms Wass argued that admission suggested everything the alleged victim had said was therefore “realistic”.

“No,” Harris replied. “Because it didn’t happen.”

Ms Wass also claimed Harris had tailored his entire case around a letter he wrote to the alleged victim’s father in 1997, apologising for his behaviour.

She said the letter was essentially a threat, warning it would be his word against that of his daughter’s friend if she went to the police.

Ms Wass argued the letter didn’t make sense if the pair had had a consensual relationship, as Harris has claimed.

Why hadn’t Harris stated in letter that the complainant instigated the sexual encounters, she demanded to know.

In the letter, previously read out in court, Harris said he’d asked the alleged victim: “Why did you just never say no.”

This was child abuse, grooming, you effectively psychologically dominated this girl into womanhood

Ms Wass said that was an odd thing to say “if she was the person throwing herself at you”.

She also pressed Harris on whether it was a “love affair”.

The entertainer said the sexual encounters – about eight in total over 10 years – were “isolated occasions”.

But he insisted they “stemmed from a feeling of love and friendship” and there was “warmth and affection”.

Harris on Tuesday admitted having an affair with his daughter’s childhood friend, but said it was “ludicrous” to suggest he’d had sex with her when she was underage. He also admitted to a second affair with a female lodger in the mid-1990s.

On Wednesday, Ms Wass noted Harris had “delighted” Southwark Crown Court on Tuesday with his many talents, including singing part of his 1965 hit Jake the Peg.

The barrister said there was no disputing the Australian was a “brilliant and polished performer”, but insisted: “This case, as you know, is not a talent show.”

She said it was about whether Harris had a “darker side” beneath his friendly and loveable exterior.

Ms Wass said the fact he’d concealed two affairs from his family and friends meant he was good at disguising a dark side. “Yes,” Harris admitted.

The artist and singer is charged with indecently assaulting four girls in Britain between 1968 and 1986. He denies all 12 counts.

AAP