A Melbourne man has pleaded guilty to the rape of ABC staffer Jill Meagher but will fight accusations of murder.

The plea by Adrian Bayley came at the end of a one-day committal hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

The 41-year-old Coburg man entered a guilty plea on one count of rape, but pleaded not guilty to one count of murder and two additional counts of rape.

Earlier the court heard Meagher was accosted by Bayley on Sydney Road in Brunswick, just eight minutes after she left a bar where she had been drinking with colleagues in September.

Prosecutor Gavin Silbert SC told the court that Bayley dragged Meagher into a laneway and raped and strangled her.

Sorry, this video has expired CCTV footage shows Jill Meagher being pursued

Mr Silbert told the court Bayley left Meagher's body in the laneway and returned home to get a shovel and his car.

He returned at 4:22am and it is alleged he drove to Gisborne and left Meagher's body on the side of a dirt road.

The court heard that during a 10-hour police interview, Bayley admitted to raping and strangling Meagher, before leading homicide detectives to her body.

Pathologist Matthew Lynch told the court Meagher was found fully clothed and lying on her side.

Dr Lynch told the court she had suffered an "unusual" injury with bruises and haemorrhaging indicating she had been held around the neck with some force and for a long time.

He testified Meagher's ability to resist would have been limited by her level of intoxication.

Bayley sat behind a security screen in the dock flanked by three security officers during the hearing.

Meagher's parents George and Edith McKeon and her brother Michael were in court.

Her husband Tom Meagher was present to hear Bayley admit to raping his wife but burst out of the court room soon after.

Bayley will stand trial in the Supreme Court later this month.