Outlining the case against the 54-year-old, prosecutor Matt Fisher said police believed Mr Ristevski either killed or incapacitated his wife between 8.58am and 10.43am on the day she went missing during an argument over the precarious financial situation of their clothing business. Police believed he drove her remains in her black Mercedes-Benz to Mount Macedon, 80 kilometres away. The couple's clothing business, Bella Bleu, recorded losses of $326,000 between 2012 and 2016, the court heard, and the Ristevskis had a credit card debt of more than $80,000, on top of a $715,000 mortgage and other loans. Karen Ristevski with husband Borce and daughter Sarah. Their financial situation when Ms Ristevski went missing was "very serious", Mr Fisher said.

He said the combination of CCTV footage of the car travelling through Melbourne's north-west and mobile phone towers that detected the Ristevskis' phones before they were deactivated formed the basis of the police case, along with allegations the accused man withheld key information from police. "The accused has deliberately excluded and withheld certain information and fabricated facts to distance himself from the crime," Mr Fisher said. Ms Ristevski's remains were found, between two large logs and concealed by branches, by two forestry workers in the Mount Macedon Regional Park on February 20 last year, eight months after the 47-year-old disappeared. Mr Ristevski was charged in December last year with murder. Although he is yet to formally enter a plea, his lawyers have indicated he will plead not guilty if committed to stand trial in the Supreme Court.

Mr Ristevski reported his wife missing on June 30, 2016, and told police she left their home after they argued about their struggling business. He reported to police she left on foot after telling him: "I can't talk to you right now. I am going to clear my head." But over the following few days, Mr Ristevski failed to tell police he drove his wife's car after she left the house. When he did admit driving the car, the court heard, he said he drove up the Calder Freeway to near Gisborne as part of a trip to get fuel and visit the clothing store, before he turned around and went home. The trip, he told police, lasted 80 minutes.

But Mr Fisher said police believe Mr Ristevski was away from home for two hours and 19 minutes and that he went as far as the park to dump his wife's body. A recreation of the route, based on CCTV sightings of the car and where phone towers pinged the couple's phones, was only a couple of minutes out, allowing for someone to spend 20 minutes at the park to hide a body. Mr Ristevski's mobile phone was deliberately deactivated at 11.19am along the freeway, the court heard, and his wife's phone last pinged a tower at 11.40am, near Gisborne, when it was either turned off, switched to airplane mode or the battery failed. Mr Ristevski told police he initially didn't tell them he drove his wife's car on the day she went missing because he didn't believe the detail was significant. He initially reported he spent the morning at home after his wife left, until he went out that afternoon to work as an Uber driver.

He also didn't tell daughter Sarah during the day that he couldn't reach her mother, and didn't report her disappearance to his parents that night when he and Sarah had dinner with them. Sarah Ristevski saw her parents at home before she left for work that morning, The court heard. Mr Fisher said Mr Ristevski didn't call his wife's phone for almost 27 hours, from when he was at his parents' home until after 10pm the following day. He also didn't mention she was missing to any of her family, friends or colleagues. They learned of the disappearance when Sarah posted it on social media, the court heard. Mr Ristevski spent the first part of Monday's hearing listening to an application for a suppression order by Victoria Police, which wants details of how investigators use telecommunications data, and the evidence of an expert, kept from the public domain.

Lawyers for media organisations are opposing the application. Magistrate Suzanne Cameron will continue hearing the application on Tuesday, when Sarah Ristevski is scheduled to give evidence. And Mr Ristevski's estranged son, Anthony Rickard, could also be called as a witness this week, despite his arrest on Sunday over a number of outstanding warrants, including a charge of failing to answer bail. He is in custody. Witness Sarah Culhane on Monday told the court she was a customer at Bella Bleu and that during the first half of June 2016 she overheard Ms Ristevski in an angry phone conversation. She said afterwards Ms Ristevski told her "my husband pisses me off".

Mr Fisher said Mr Ristevski told police he and his wife argued and disagreed over small things, but no more than any other couple. The hearing continues.