Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's counsel told the court the lockdown doesn't go far enough to be considered a detention.

Men suing Jacinda Ardern over the Level 4 lockdown's legality have made claims including an allegation a business leader and the Prime Minister conspired to ruin New Zealand's economy.

On Friday, one man told the High Court in Auckland the United Nations Secretary-General should have been consulted before lockdown restrictions were imposed.

The man, currently serving a home detention sentence, and another sued Ardern and asked for a writ of habeas corpus. The writ is a legal order stating anyone detained must appear before a court before they can be forced to stay in prison.

Effectively, the men told Justice Mary Peters the lockdown made them unlawfully detained. Both have interim name suppression.

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"It's not a pandemic. It's a panic-demic and she's running the show," the first applicant said, referring to Ardern.

"She has a cup of tea with [Sir Stephen] Tindall and they both decided to ruin the New Zealand economy and take away my rights."

He said lockdown amounted to imposition of authoritarian rule.

Even his home detention sentence allowed him away from the house from 8am to 5pm, he said.

New Zealand's coronavirus death toll is now 11 but at the time of the court hearing it was nine.

Geoff Mackley New Zealand's largest city filmed by cameraman Geoff Mackley during Covid-19 lockdown.

He cited a quote attributed to Soviet dictator Josef Stalin: "One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic."

"Nine doesn't even make a statistic," he said.

A model predicting 80,000 New Zealanders would die without lockdown was in his opinion an inaccurate "well-woven yarn of complete decimation," he said.

He said restrictions on hunting and swimming followed a "fallacious" premise hospital emergency rooms were too busy.

"We'll be dealing with a corpse, the corpse of rights," he added.

The second applicant told the court Ardern based lockdown decisions on no real evidence.

GETTY IMAGES Two litigants made it to the High Court to claim Jacinda Ardern and Dr Ashley Bloomfield based coronavirus lockdown measures on an over-reaction.

He added: "This application is about the legality of the actions of the Prime Minister and the Director-General of Health together to abrogate the rights of all New Zealanders."

He claimed "spurious information supplied by unknown sources" prompted a Government overreaction.

Ardern's counsel Austin Powell said people were subject to significant limits during lockdown, but had the autonomy to make decisions about essential travel.

"There is no requirement that you obtain permission in advance or that you report on your movements," Powell added.

He said the Covid-19 alert levels imposed no demand people stay in their homes for a minimum number of hours each day.

"This doesn't get far enough to be considered a detention."

Powell said the Health Act laid out the relevant powers medical officers of health had.

Justice Peters on Friday afternoon reserved her decision but said she would try to reach a decision urgently.

Friday's applicants were not the first to sue the Government over lockdowns.

Last month, motorhome resident Peter Prescott claimed the looming lockdown would make him unlawfully detained.

Prescott wanted to access his motorhome in a Whangaparāoa storage yard which was deemed a non-essential service and locked up.

Although Prescott's application was dismissed, his access was saved when the storage yard agreed to give him a key.