The William Street and Lonsdale Street court precinct is in the middle of the most significant infrastructure refresh it has had in the better part of two decades. Court Services Victoria has been progressing a tranche of works across the County Court, the Magistrates’ Court and the new Wyndham Law Courts in Werribee, and the changes most likely to matter to victims and witnesses are the ones our newsroom has been asking about. Remote witness facilities, expanded Specialist Family Violence Court coverage and the Wyndham development are the three threads to watch.
Eliza has been pulling annual reports, design briefs and the published implementation-monitor material to put together a plain-English picture of what is actually changing on the ground.
The County Court precinct
The County Court of Victoria sits at the corner of William and Lonsdale streets. The building itself dates to the early 2000s and was designed at the time to combine modern courtroom layouts with what was then state-of-the-art video-conferencing and remote witness technology. Two decades on, the technology around remote evidence has moved on considerably, and the building’s audio-visual fitouts have been progressively upgraded across multiple tranches of capital works.
The current upgrades focus on:
- Replacing in-court display systems and remote witness room cameras with higher-resolution units that handle low-light conditions better.
- Upgrading the digital evidence handling system so material captured by Victoria Police body-worn cameras and forensic teams can be presented in court without quality degradation.
- Expanding the number of secure entrances and exits available to victim-witnesses, so they don’t have to share circulation space with accused persons or their supporters.
The remote witness rooms — small, private rooms separated from the courtroom but linked by audio-video — have been a core piece of Victorian court practice for sexual offence and family violence trials for years. The County Court’s most recent work has focused on making sure those rooms are equipped to a consistent standard across the building, rather than the patchwork that built up over the prior fitout cycle.
Specialist Family Violence Courts
The Specialist Family Violence Court (SFVC) model rolled out under the Royal Commission into Family Violence reforms is now operating across multiple headquarters Magistrates’ Court locations. The current SFVC sites include Ballarat, Shepparton, Moorabbin, Heidelberg, Frankston and several others, with Geelong’s redevelopment formally completed in 2026 and Wyndham coming online from early 2027.
The SFVC architecture deliberately separates the experience of victim-survivors from accused persons. Key features at upgraded facilities include:
- Separate entry and exit points so victim-survivors don’t cross paths with respondents or their families.
- Safe waiting areas with private interview rooms.
- Remote witness technology with dedicated rooms and trained staff.
- Child-friendly spaces, recognising that family violence proceedings frequently involve children either as parties or as accompanying family members.
- Co-located legal services and support workers, including The Orange Door network and specialist family violence applicant practitioners.
The Geelong redevelopment, completed by Kane Constructions in 2026, brings the building closer to the design standard set at Heidelberg and Shepparton. Court Services Victoria’s most recent annual report records the volume of family violence intervention order matters across the SFVC network, and the system continues to absorb a higher matter-load year on year.
The Wyndham Law Courts development
The Wyndham Law Courts in Werribee is the largest single-precinct project on Court Services Victoria’s current capital works list. The new building has 13 courtrooms, four hearing rooms, three mediation suites and 26 day-holding cells, with workspace for the agencies that operate alongside the court — Victoria Legal Aid, the Office of Public Prosecutions, Victims Services and The Orange Door practitioners.
The Specialist Family Violence Court at Wyndham will open from early 2027. The site is designed from the ground up around the SFVC operating model, rather than retrofitted into a building that pre-dates that model. Werribee’s catchment — Wyndham, Hobsons Bay, Maribyrnong and parts of the western growth corridor — has been one of the highest-volume family-violence reporting catchments in Victoria for several years, and the new precinct is intended to take pressure off Sunshine and the central city building.
What changes for victims and witnesses in practice
The headline upgrades are technical, but the experience-level changes are what our newsroom thinks readers will notice:
- Less waiting in shared corridors. The redesigned entry and circulation patterns mean a victim-witness arriving for a hearing should be able to move through the building without crossing paths with the accused or their supporters.
- More consistent remote-evidence experience. Witnesses giving evidence from a remote room can expect a similar setup whether they are at the County Court, a regional headquarters Magistrates’ Court or a specialist SFVC site.
- Better child-supervision arrangements. The newer SFVC sites include child-friendly waiting areas and, where possible, child-care arrangements that reduce the burden on a parent giving evidence.
- Victim notification improvements. The Office of Public Prosecutions and Victims Services have been progressively integrating their case-management systems so that hearing dates, listing changes and outcomes flow through to the registered victim contact more reliably.
What hasn’t changed — and where the gaps still are
Our team is wary of writing as if the precinct upgrade has solved the underlying problems. Several long-running issues persist:
- Listing delays. The County Court continues to carry a long backlog of trials, particularly in sexual offence matters, with delays measured in many months. The capital works program does not directly address the judicial-resourcing question.
- Regional access. Victims and witnesses in regional Victoria still face significant travel for trials run at the County Court’s Melbourne site, even where remote evidence is available.
- Inconsistent SFVC coverage. Not every Magistrates’ Court site is an SFVC, which means the experience for victim-survivors varies depending on where they live.
- Translation and interpreter services. The infrastructure investment has run ahead of the workforce investment in qualified court interpreters.
Where the published material lives
The Court Services Victoria Annual Report 2024–25 is the most current public document covering capital works progress and SFVC operations. The Family Violence Reform Implementation Monitor publishes its own assessment of how the Royal Commission’s recommendations have been delivered. The Magistrates’ Court of Victoria publishes a separate page on the SFVC network with site-by-site information for victim-survivors.
If you are heading to court as a victim or witness
Court Network operates a free, confidential support and information service across Victorian courts on 1800 681 614. Victims of Crime Victoria runs a 24-hour helpline on 1800 819 817. For family violence support during court matters, Safe Steps Family Violence Response Centre is on 1800 015 188 (24/7), and 1800RESPECT is on 1800 737 732. If you need an interpreter for a court matter, contact the court registry well ahead of your listing date so arrangements can be made.
Eliza Hartman covers the Victorian courts for Victoria Crime News.
