A jury has heard the 111 call Loafers Lodge resident Liam Hockings made to emergency services on the night of a fatal fire at the boarding house in Wellington.
Hockings was either dying during the phone call, or died shortly after it ended.
Audio and a written transcript of the call have been suppressed.
A man, whose identity is suppressed, is on trial at the High Court in Wellington charged with five counts of murder and one of arson for setting the boarding house alight in 2023.
It is not disputed that he lit two fires, but the man's lawyers intend to use the defence of insanity.
Evidence from Fire and Emergency worker David Barker, who took the call with Hockings, was read to the court today.
Barker said he was reassuring Hockings that someone was coming but after a while Hockings became unresponsive.
Barker said he stayed on the line for about 49 minutes, and then was advised to call Hockings back on his phone because it might help locate him.
He tried to call back twice but the phone was not answered.
The jury also saw footage of the final moments of the five men who died.
CCTV footage played to the court showed residents Peter O'Sullivan, Kenneth Barnard, Michael Wahrlich, Melvin Parun and Hockings shutting the doors to their room at different times of the night.
Footage showed Hockings evacuating the building at the sound of an alarm about 10.47pm via a side entrance.
He waited outside the building until the fire alarm went off, then went back upstairs to his room.
