Bain is facing a retrial in two weeks for the 1994 murders of his parents, Robin and Margaret, his two sisters, Arawa (19) and Laniet (18), and his younger brother, Stephen (14), at their Andersons Bay home in Dunedin.
All were shot to death early on June 20, 1994. Bain was 22 at the time.
At the end of a three-week trial a year later, he was found guilty of the murders and served 12 years of a life sentence before a 2007 Privy Council decision quashed the convictions.
He was subsequently granted bail while awaiting a re-trial.
The case has been the subject of numerous pre-trial applications since the Privy Council decision.
Justice Graham Panckhurst is hearing further applications from Crown and defence in the High Court at Christchurch this week.
A defence application for a stay of proceedings, to stop the prosecution going any further, is scheduled for today and the various applications are expected to take most of the week.
At the start of yesterday's proceedings, Justice Panckhurst declined all applications for media coverage of the hearings.
In an earlier ruling he said he was satisfied the applications involved matters of "genuine sensitivity" and were likely to involve arguments and contentions which could have fair trial implications.
Pre-trial applications were usually held in closed court which meant the matters discussed and decisions made could not be reported.
Media representatives have been allowed to remain in court this week to hear the matters discussed, but are not permitted to report anything.
Bain was not present yesterday but supporter Joe Karam was in the public gallery taking notes.
Also present was Dunedin police officer Detective Senior Sergeant Kallum Croudis.
