Wednesday October 31. Names of Leighton's previous and current subsidiaries are displayed on a screen on the wall. About 20 people declare conflicts or give other reasons for not being able to be jurors (some are worried they will not be able to handle the financial complexity of the case.) But 12 suitable souls are found, the judge gives his long welcome-to-being-a-juror speech again and we break for lunch. When we return, the judge ominously asks to speak to the barristers in private. He has received a note from one juror who is worried they can't sit through the whole trial due to exams at the end of November. This jury is also kaput. Judge Lakatos muses that neither he nor the Crown seem to have made themselves properly "understood" about the requirements of a 5-week trial.

Thursday November 1. No longer a novice when it comes to courts, I stay away until I get confirmation that a jury is formed. An excellent call on my part, because the process fails yet again. The problem this time, according to a colleague from The Sydney Morning Herald who was present, is that some of the people who were up for selection were "accidentally" left outside. This was only noticed when everyone left the courtroom for morning tea. One of the barristers worries the aspiring jurors may have overheard something that he said, and that this could prejudice them.

Monday November 5. I'm in The Australian Financial Review's office but I've got secret sources in the courtroom. Late morning, I'm told that new jurors have been sworn in. I can't quite believe it but when I head to court at 2pm, the trial gets underway.

Tuesday November 6. The trial is not due to resume until 11am because our courtroom is needed at 10am by another judge. There are further delays, so we don't get going until just before lunch. The judge then asks if any of the jurors wants to watch the Melbourne Cup. Only one puts their hand up, but just before 3pm, we take a 20-minute break. At the end of the day – which is 4pm for courts – I calculate that two hours' work has been done.

The trial of former Leighton Holdings executive Peter Gregg only began in the sixth day in court. Peter Braig

Wednesday November 7. We are due to start at 10am, but His Honour announces the court's recording machine is broken. He says he'll go off the bench until it is fixed. Someone utters the dreaded words, "I'll call IT".

As a journalist, I try my best to keep an independent mind. But it's hard not to have some sympathies for the accused, given the thousands of dollars they spend every day on barristers and legal counsel. The jury is often sent out of the courtroom while barristers debate specific points of law, seemingly under no time pressure.

One lawyer I know has the perfect solution for making trials more efficient: run a ticker tape on the courtroom wall, showing the financial bills – many of which are footed by taxpayers – adding up.

Trials are pretty expensive for journalists too. With all this time to kill, I've been spending a fortune on coffee.