Cardinal George Pell's lawyers will question his accusers about when they first disclosed Australia's most senior Catholic had allegedly abused them, as they try to prove the allegations are a "recent invention", a Melbourne court has heard.

The 76-year-old will return to the Melbourne Magistrates' Court next week for a month-long committal hearing as he fights historical sexual offence charges involving multiple complainants.

No other details of the case can be reported for legal reasons.

Complainants in the case will be the first to give evidence at the hearing, which will determine whether there is enough evidence to commit Cardinal Pell to stand trial.

One of Cardinal Pell's defence barristers, Ruth Shann, told an administrative hearing that they plan to cross-examine the alleged victims about the circumstances in which they made their complaint, the timing of it being made, and whether they had had opportunities to make it at an earlier stage.

"This is a case where we have people alleging that things occurred from decades ago and the issue is recent invention," she said.

Cardinal Pell's defence team also made an application to ask the complainants about exactly what they said when they first disclosed the alleged abuse.

Defence to focus on timing of disclosures

For example, Ms Shann said, if a complainant had disclosed abuse perpetrated by another offender in 2009, then they wanted to know who they spoke to, and if there was also mention of Cardinal Pell.

"Our focus is on disclosures about Cardinal Pell and the timing of them," she said.

Ms Shann said they did not intend to ask any of the complainants about the details of their abuse by other alleged perpetrators.

Magistrate Belinda Wallington will rule on whether to permit that line of questioning on Friday.

Cardinal Pell's legal team were on Tuesday denied access to a report regarding one of the complainants when he came before a court.

Barrister Robert Richter QC said the report was tendered to the court by the alleged victim's lawyers in an effort to mitigate his sentence, and for him not to have mentioned any allegations against Cardinal Pell at that time "speaks volumes".

"It is critical to the credibility of those allegations … when it was entirely in [the complainant's] interests to make the suggestion of sexual abuse by the Cardinal that no allegation was made," he said.

Legal aid 'prohibited' from supplying accuser's court report

Mr Richter told the court that person had denied the abuse had occurred in another instance.

He said the report would be relevant to the cross-examination of the case.

But Victoria Legal Aid, which funded the complainant's legal defence at the time, said legislation prohibited it from supplying the report.

Magistrate Wallington awarded it costs for appearing at today's hearing, despite Mr Richter opposing the application and telling the court Victoria Legal Aid's conduct had been "completely unreasonable in this matter".

There will be further legal argument on the return of outstanding subpoenas on Friday.

Cardinal Pell's committal hearing will be closed for up to two weeks while the complainants give their evidence, as required under legislation.

Editor's note: On Tuesday April 7, 2020, the High Court in a unanimous decision upheld Cardinal Pell's appeal and quashed his convictions on all five charges.