There was no room inside for the hundreds who had turned up to support Julian Assange, but the the sound of their chants in support of the WikiLeaks founder could be heard throughout the long-awaited extradition hearing at Woolwich crown court.

At an early stage, perhaps as much in hope as anything else, the presiding judge, Vanessa Baraitser, had sent court staff outside to speak Assange’s supporters, adding that the noise could interfere with her ability to hear the case properly.

It was to no avail, but James Lewis QC nevertheless pressed on, outlining the US case for why the Australian should be extradited to America to face trial on 18 charges of attempted hacking and breaches of the country’s espionage laws.

It has been about 10 months since Assange was dragged from the Ecuadorian embassy, where he had spent seven years inside as he faced allegations in Sweden of sex crimes, which he has always denied.

The bedraggled-looking figure pulled from the embassy last April was nowhere to be seen on Monday. Instead, at the back of court 2 sat a cleancut Assange in a crisp white shirt under a grey sweater, impassive and with reading glasses on his head.

After a morning spent straining to hear the US case against him being read out, Assange rose shortly before the lunchtime break to thank those protesting outside in support of him, but adding that it was making it hard for him to concentrate.

“I am having difficulty concentrating and this noise is not helpful. I understand and am very appreciative of the public support. I do understand they must be disgusted by these proceedings,” he told the judge.

Above him and to his left were those who gathered in the public gallery. They included his father, John Shipton, and figures from WikiLeaks, the site Assange co-founded in 2006.

Others at court – though not all inside the courtroom – included 33 parliamentarians from 12 different European countries. They formed a monitoring group organised by the freedom of expression project Bridges for Media Freedom and came from Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the UK.

It was outside Woolwich crown court, however, that the full mosaic of the following that has rowed in behind Assange could be found. They included a dozen gilet jaune protesters who had travelled from Paris overnight.

“I am a yellow vest here to support because he did the best for all the world, for his courage,” said Jean-Baptiste Voltuan, 64.

The ranks of those keeping up a steady stream of chants included the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, wearing a headband reading “angel”, who told the Press Association: “I am Vivienne. I’m the angel of democracy. Nobody knows more about democracies than Julian Assange.

“It is not a crime to publish American war crimes. It’s in the public interest, it is democracy, that he is allowed to do this. I feel really worried and frightened actually, really frightened.”

Inside court 2 meanwhile, there was silence as the extradition case was laid out in slow, meticulous detail by Lewis as he took Baraitser and those listening through a US depiction of WikiLeaks, visiting the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts along the way.

The sombre delivery of Lewis gave way eventually to the equally sombre opening statement of Assange’s defence councils, Edward Fitzgerald QC, lightened only briefly by the latter’s channeling Mandy Rice-Davies’ Profumo-era retort to Lord Astor’s claims not to have met her.

In this case, the famous quote was deployed as a response to Donald Trump’s absolute denial of anything in relation to claims that a Republican Congressman had offered Assange a pardon on the President’s behalf

“We say: ‘well, he would say that, wouldn’t he?” said Fitzgerald.