A man who bashed his girlfriend's two-year-old daughter to death has been sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in jail.

Warren Ross was found guilty last year of murdering Tanilla Warrick-Deaves at Watanobbi on the New South Wales central coast in August 2011.

The toddler died from bleeding on the brain due to a head injury.

Tanilla's mother, Donna Deaves, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was last year sentenced to 12 years in jail with a non-parole period of nine years.

During her trial, the judge told the court Tanilla's death could have been prevented if community services and family members had intervened.

During Ross's sentencing hearing on Friday, Justice Stephen Rothman told the court that Ross had whipped the child with a belt while joking to her mother that he could make Tanilla scream.

Ross responded by rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

He also smiled and waved at family members in the public gallery.

The judge said that after smoking marijuana, Ross held Tanilla under cold water in the shower and said to the shivering child, "You don't shit in my house - you are an animal", and banged her head into the shower screen twice.

He also punished the child by repeatedly making her run laps of the lounge room, and kicked her across the floor so that her head hit the linen cupboard, Justice Rothman said.

He noted that Tanilla died after days of "severe corporal punishment", adding that the couple had put the badly injured child in a pram and covered her over with a blanket, and that she died from head injuries days later.

He said that although the murder was not pre-meditated, Ross did intend to harm Tanilla and had abused his position of trust with her.

Noting that Ross had shown no remorse and that his prospects for rehabilitation were "poor", Justice Rothman sentenced him to a maximum of 40 years in jail, with a 30-year non-parole period, to which Ross's mother, who was in the courtroom, shouted: "I'll be dead."

"Essentially his offending comes down to his anti-social qualities," Justice Rothman said of Ross.

The judge repeated that the authorities had been contacted several times about the child's welfare.

Warren Ross is led from King Street Court in Sydney on May 9, 2014, after being found guilty of murdering two-year-old Tanilla Warrick-Deaves in August 2011. ( AAP: Daniel Munoz, file photo )

Tanilla's final days full of fear: father

During the sentencing for Donna Deaves, Tanilla's father, Adrian Warrick, said he felt his heart sink in shock when police told him his daughter was dead.

"There is not enough words to express this heartache and pain I feel every day since that morning," he told the court.

Tanilla's father Adrian Warrick and his partner, Brooke Bowen, show tattoos dedicated to Tanilla outside court. ( AAP: Dan Himbrechts )

"I can only imagine her final two days and the fear she had being hit, smacked, whipped, made to run laps till she couldn't stand no more, being held over the toilet and having the final blow with her head being hit in the shower.

"I have nightmares, sleepless nights, things will never be the same."

Ross's lawyer, Sarah McNaughton SC, told the court her client needs the highest level of protective custody at Sydney's Long Bay prison because he is concerned about his safety.

Friday's sentencing hearing heard that Ross had been involved in fights in jail due to the crime he had committed.

At least eight riot squad officers were stationed near court during the hearing, and outside the court members of his family became angry with the media.