When a Christchurch man fell and hit his head during a heavy drinking session celebrating his 70th birthday at the Cashmere Club, the general manager passed him a glass of wine.

Hours later Colin Hunt, known as Charlie, again fell and hit his head while leaving the club. He died in hospital the following day.

The Alcohol Regulatory and Licensing Authority is hearing an application by police to strip or suspend liquor licences held by the Cashmere Club and the manager at the time, Rebecca Hine.

The club argued it would have to close if it could no longer serve alcohol.

Hunt arrived at the club just before 2pm on September 19 last year and arranged a $3000 bar tab.

At a hearing on Monday, Senior Constable Olivia Bensley outlined drinking by Hunt and his group captured on CCTV over several hours that evening, including being served trays of shots.

The group included club general manager Murray Davies, who was a close friend of Hunt and not working that day.

Just before 11.30pm one of the people in the group went to the bar while trying to balance a pint glass on his head.

The glass fell to the ground and smashed and the man was served another beer.

The bar closed just after midnight and the till was put away but Hunt's group stayed on drinking and was joined by staff members, some of whom had been working and some who were off-duty, including Hine who was duty manager until 8.30pm.

The club was not licensed to sell alcohol after 1am but the drinking continued, with more shots including another tray of 11 B52s (Kahlua and Baileys), one Galliano and one Fireball whiskey.

Bensley described signs of intoxication in the CCTV, including people becoming more affectionate towards each other and stumbling.

Hine pulled down a man's pants and fell to the ground.

The man was later seen with his pants down exposing his genitals and on another occasion, several people including Hunt put their hands on and between his buttocks.

Another woman deliberately bumped into Hunt, knocking him off his stool.

On several occasions Hunt could be seen stumbling and catching himself before he fell.

At 1.30am Hunt fell from his bar stool and whacked his head on the table behind him.

The footage showed friends and staff members going to his aid and offering a bag of ice, but he was also handed a glass of red wine by Davies.

At 2am another tray of shots was brought out but the group packed up to leave shortly after, with $2300 spent on Hunt's tab, including $182 on three platters.

As they made their way out of the club, Hunt offered his hand to help a woman sitting on the steps but stumbled and fell, hitting his head.

An ambulance was called and Hunt was taken to hospital, where he died on September 21.

Bensely said a toxicology report showed Hunt's blood alcohol reading was 226 m/100 millilitres of blood, which equated to four-and-a-half times over the legal driving limit.

Cashmere Club president Andrew Webster told the authority Hunt had many friends at the club who were devastated by his death.

He said Hine remained employed and disputed the allegations.

Davies had resigned as general manager but was still a club member and organised pool tournaments because of his involvement with the sport.

Webster said it was clear the club's compliance culture was not strict enough at the time and the bar had morphed into something akin to drinking at a private house, rather than a licensed premises.

The events of that night were a one-off and would not happen again, Webster said.

He told the authority the whole club was at risk if it lost its liquor licence because alcohol sales were its biggest income stream.

Club lawyer Tim Mackenzie said police told him the club should have made more changes directly after Hunt's death, with "a wholesale investigation and terminations on the spot".

He said that was with hindsight, pointing out police took nine months to make an application to the licensing authority even though they had CCTV shortly after Hunt's death.

Police prosecutor Karyn South said the club's breach was one of the most serious, with the most serious of consequences.

"No one in that group on the night appeared the slightest bit concerned that the CCTV would ever be checked to see what time the premises were actually cleared, who drinks on the job, who is pouring drinks and not paying for them, who is going behind the bar, who is flailing around with their genitals exposed until two in the morning.”

South said that showed a complete lack of board oversight and control because "here were the general manager and the bar manager fully participating in what was happening".

South said today's board was almost identical to the board that at was in place at the time.

The authority's decision was reserved.