The trial of an alleged serial killer, charged with poisoning four young men he apparently met on gay dating websites, will be delayed for six months because of the enormity of work needed to be done on the case, a court has heard.

Stephen Port allegedly met the men via dating apps before taking them to his home in Barking, east London. All four are alleged to have died after ingesting lethal quantities of the party drug GHB.

Appearing from Belmarsh prison by video link at Kingston crown court, Port spoke only to confirm his name and replied “Yes, your honour” when judge Mr Justice Singh asked if he could hear and follow the proceedings.

The former bus garage chef, 40, is charged with four counts of murder, allegedly committed over a period of 15 months, and four counts of “administering a poison with intent to endanger life or inflict grievous bodily harm”.

Port was due to enter a plea on Friday, but both prosecution and defence barristers said the amount of work required meant they would not be ready for a plea hearing until 15 April. The trial, originally set to start in April, will now take place on 4 October, and take at least two months.

Prosecutor William Emlyn-Jones said much was still uncertain with regards to the case against Port. “There is a very large amount of outstanding work given the scale of this inquiry,” he said.

The judge said he had originally hoped for a June court date, which Emlyn-Jones said he believed was still too soon for the prosecution to be ready for trial because of the complex nature of the case.

Citing the “unusual circumstances of the case”, Singh said he would extend the custody time limit for Port until October when the trial begins at the Old Bailey.

Port’s first alleged victim was Anthony Patrick Walgate, 23, a fashion design student, from Barnet, north London, found dead on Cooke Street in Barking, in June 2014.

The body of Gabriel Kovari, 22, from Lewisham, south London, was discovered two months later near the churchyard of St Margaret’s in Barking, and Daniel Whitworth, 21, from Gravesend, Kent, was found dead in that same churchyard on 20 September.

The fourth alleged victim was Jack Taylor, 25, a forklift operator, from Dagenham, Essex, whose body was found near the abbey ruinsin Barking on 14 September last year, 300 yards from the churchyard where Whitworth and Kovari’s bodies were discovered.