It has taken 39 days in the courtroom, spanning a period of more than four months, but the evidence stage of the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius is finally over.
The athlete hugged his lawyers in court ahead of the brief hearing when his legal team announced they were resting their case for the defence.
Defence advocate Barry Roux told the judge he would not be calling any more witnesses.
But he also said that there were many witnesses that the defence would have liked to have called who refused to testify because of the global attention they would have received.
Model Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead on Valentine's Day 2013 It was a final swipe at the decision to televise the court proceedings "in the interests of open justice" which the defence had opposed from the start.
Mr Roux was suggesting that the defence case might have been very different if the cameras had not been permitted in court.
The key defence witness, Oscar Pistorius himself, could not avoid the spotlight, although he chose to have only his voice broadcast during his evidence back in April.
The athlete laid out his version of events: that he heard what he thought was an intruder and, in "fear for his life", approached the closed toilet door and fired four shots through it.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel says Pistorius murdered his girlfriend after a row He said he thought his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, was still in the bedroom when he opened fire.
Other defence witnesses testified to his "vulnerability" as a double amputee and how his heightened 'fight or flight' response affected his actions on the night of the shooting. The prosecution argued that the athlete "intended" to kill that night and the athlete struggled during a fierce and lengthy cross-examination.
The athlete frequently broke down in tears in the witness box and retched when the prosecution showed graphic photos of Ms Steenkamp's injuries.
Prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who had brought several of the runner's neighbours to give evidence about hearing a woman's "blood curdling screams", said Pistorius had murdered Ms Steenkamp after a row.
The model's mother, June, has attended the trial The prosecution stressed that, even if the athlete had thought it was an intruder in the toilet, he still shot to kill.
The trial was delayed for more than six weeks after the court ordered a full psychiatric evaluation of the runner. The doctors found that he wasn't mentally ill at the time of the shooting and "fit to stand trial".
Both sides now have to compile "heads of argument" - effectively their closing statements, summing up their respective cases.
These will be delivered to Judge Thokozile Masipa in writing, with a deadline of July 30 for the prosecution and August 4 for the defence.
On August 7 and 8, the lawyers will present their final arguments in court.
Only then will the judge, with the help of her two assessors, retire to consider her verdicts. And that could take several weeks.
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