Oscar Pistorius will likely have to endure no more than 20 minutes in total in open court on Tuesday, but that even short window will be a trial for the man who had, in previous appearances, broken down while in the dock.
Court officials on Monday said they expected even worse chaos this week than during previous appearances, even though the session is a pure formality.
"They tell us there will be more people than last time, and last time you guys were fist-fighting outside here," a security guard said.
Registration for media outlets keen to cover the appearance closed on Friday as the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) tried to formalise logistics around the appearance. Arrangements around video cameras and allowing journalists into proceedings started in earnest on Monday and more than three hours will be dedicated to further arrangements and the processing of journalists on Tuesday before proceedings are due to start.
Television stations argued that they should be allowed to broadcast the proceedings in the case live but magistrate Desmond Nair ruled in February that he would only allow videoing and photography while the court is not in session, creating a small window of opportunity for cameras to crowd around Pistorius as he enters the court.
Yet, barring a surprise from the bench, there is little business to conduct; prosecutors and Pistorius's team have already agreed to postpone the murder trial until August to allow police to continue their investigation and the NPA to construct the case that Pistorius killed Reeva Steenkamp in cold blood.
When those details, including a witness list, is presented to Pistorius in August, his team is expected to ask for a postponement of its own in order to fine-tune a defence, which will probably push the case into 2014. And despite a clear and detailed version of events from Pistorius – that he shot Steenkamp under the impression that he was defending himself against an intruder – it is expected to see further interruptions once properly under way as the two sides tussle over various pieces of evidence.
Police are understood to have interviewed several dozen witnesses, many of them residents of the estate in which Pistorius had been living at the time of the shooting. Some of the interviews revolved around initial reports that neighbours heard loud late-night arguments from the house where Steenkamp was an overnight visitor before the shooting.
Yet it is forensic evidence that will be key. Pistorius maintains that he fired through a closed bathroom door while standing only on the stumps of his amputated legs. Part of the defence he already advanced during arguments for bail was that this made him feel more vulnerable. Police initially said the trajectory of the shots indicated they were fired from a more normal height, implying that Pistorius was wearing prostheses at the time. Investigators have since remained mum on such details, despite rumours that especially British tabloids intimated the continued availability of considerable sums of money for inside information.
Sky News also released graphic pictures of the crime scene last week Friday.
Pistorius will again be the major focus of such media attention after his brother Carl was found not guilty of reckless driving in a case around a car accident that initially saw him charged with culpable homicide. The case was brought to light shortly after Steenkamp's death.
Meanwhile, scores of journalists braved the cold outside the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Tuesday morning ahead of Pistorius's the pre-trial hearing.
Local and international media stood wrapped up in scarves and thick jackets since 5am, sipping hot coffee as they awaited accreditation.
More than 12 outside broadcast vehicles parked along Sophie de Bruyn Street (formerly Schubart) near the court soon after.
Additional reporting by Sapa