A man has faced court charged with murdering three members of a family in Adelaide last week.

Donato Anthony Corbo, 39, sat silently in the dock and looked around the courtroom as his lawyer sought an adjournment.

Corbo is charged with three counts of murder and two of attempted murder at Hectorville last Friday.

It is alleged he shot dead his 41-year-old neighbour Lukas Mombers and Mr Mombers' parents-in-law, who had been on holidays from South Africa.

It also is alleged he seriously injured Mr Mombers' teenage son and shot a police officer in the face.

Corbo was taken into custody after a siege.

The court heard Corbo is likely to contest the charges.

Prosecutors told the court the investigation was still in its early stages, and there were some police witnesses yet to go through formal identification procedures.

Corbo was remanded in custody ahead of another hearing in July.