Disturbing details about the murder of former Paws and Claws volunteer Toyah Cordingley have been discussed at the Supreme Court of Queensland in Cairns in the opening two days of the trial of the man charged with the crime.

The accused, former Innisfail nurse Rajwinder Singh, has pleaded not guilty, with his lead defence counsel Angus Edwards KC telling the court there were “several” other possible people who could have committed the Wangetti Beach crime, including Ms Cordingley’s long-term partner Marco Heidenreich.

But Mr Heidenreich told the court he had spent hours searching for his missing dog with a friend at a hiking trail near Mowbray on October 21, 2018, the day Toyah was killed, and the couple had not been having any relationship issues.

The defence counsel also said two other men were known to be on the beach on the day, including one “who sneaks around watching women from the sand dunes on the northern beaches” and one who lied to police about his movements that day.

Prosecutor Nathan Crane told the court his case would be relying on DNA samples taken from the burial site, and under 24-year-old Ms Cordingley’s fingernails, as well as CCTV footage and phone records which appeared to coincide with her mobile phone and Mr Singh’s blue Alfa Romeo moving along the Captain Cook Highway at the same time between about 5-6pm on the day.

Mr Crane also said Ms Cordingley’s body was found with a selfie stick but no phone.

Her mother Vanessa Gardiner told the court she and father Troy Cordingley spent hours searching for their daughter at Wangetti Beach after she went missing.

Following a phone call at night telling Ms Gardiner her daughter was missing, they arrived at the beach at 3am and parked next to her car, but had to wait three hours for enough light to start searching, she said.

They found her daughter’s dog Indie tied to a tree - Ms Cordingley had driven to Wangetti to walk her dog - and Mr Cordingley found her body buried in a shallow grave in sand dunes about 14 hours after she was killed.

Ms Cordingley’s hat was also found near the body by her family.

Two other areas of blood were also later found covered by sand along the beach.

The court was shown CCTV footage of Ms Cordingley at Rusty’s Markets in Cairns the day she died, and the last text message she sent at 3.17pm that day, letting her partner know she was intending to pick up a friend from the airport, and including a red love heart.