An Australian woman tried for the murder said she threw away the poisonous mushroom rice and killed her relatives after overeating with dessert.

Erin Patterson pleaded not guilty to four charges — three murders and one attempted murder in July 2023 at her beef Wellington lunch in the Victoria-area.

Prosecutors accused Ms. Patterson of intentional service to the toxic death cap mushrooms, but only provided to guests. Her defense team said the contaminated meal was a tragic accident and believed it also made their clients sick.

On the third day of the testimony, Ms. Patterson told the court that she had only a small portion of her lunch and later ate two-thirds of the cake before vomiting.

Ms. Patterson also admitted that she lied about the cancer diagnosis – prosecutors said she had coaxed guests to the house – because she was too embarrassed to tell them she was actually planning to have a weight loss surgery.

Three people died in the hospital in the days after the meal, including Ms. Patterson's former parents-in-law, Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.

After weeks of treatment at the hospital, a local pastor, Ian Wilkinson, survived.

The trial of the Victorian Supreme Court (starting six weeks ago) has been heard from more than 50 witnesses and has attracted global attention.

In Morwell Courthouse, Ms. Patterson detailed the deadly lunch, saying she invited guests on the premise that she wanted to talk about health issues.

A jury of 14 members heard that Ms. Patterson went through a "decently long process of trying to decide to cook" and then chose to make beef Wellington.

She said the dish is usually made with a long fish steak, wrapped with pastries and mushrooms - made as a kid by Ms. Patterson in honor of special occasions.

On lunch morning, Ms. Patterson narrates some garlic, scallions and a few plates of supermarket-buying mushrooms that were chopped in a food processor.

"I cooked for a long time," she said, adding, "You have to take out almost all the water." So the mushrooms don't moisten the pastry.

“I tasted it a few times when I cook it and it seemed a bit bland to me,” she said.

At this point, she decided to add some dried mushrooms she bought from Asian grocers in Melbourne a few months ago and store them in a container in the kitchen.

When asked if there are other types of mushrooms in the container, Ms. Patterson said: "Now, I think it's possible to have foraging mushrooms, too."

Yesterday, the court heard Ms. Patterson began foraging mushrooms near her Leongatha home in 2020, and her long-term love for mushrooms has expanded to include wild mushrooms because they have "more flavor".

Ms Patterson told the court that she had provided food and directed her guests to grab the plate when preparing the gravy.

She told the trial that there were no designated seats or plates.

Mr. Wilkinson had previously told the trial that Ms. Patterson had eaten the orange plate.

Under inquiry from defense attorney Colin Mandy, Ms. Patterson said she did not have any grey plates, but listed the blackboard, whiteboard and a red and black plate on top.

During lunch, Ms. Patterson said she didn’t eat a lot of food – “a quarter, a third, around” – because she was busy talking.

After the guest left, she cleaned the kitchen and ate a piece of orange cake that Gail brought, and then "again, another piece" before finishing the rest of the cake.

"I felt sick…full of life, so I went to the bathroom and took it back again," she said.

“After doing this, I feel much better.”

Yesterday, the court heard Ms. Patterson had been struggling with bulimia since her teenage years and was prone to binge eating and vomiting regularly after meals.