Sydney Morning Herald chief investigative reporter Kate McClymont on Wednesday sat across the courtroom from the man whose fall from grace she set in motion.
She first published indecent assault allegations against Jones in an article in December 2023 that sparked a police investigation and led to his arrest nearly a year later.
The court has been taken through her discussions with three complainants, including a 17-year-old allegedly indecently assaulted by Jones.
His mother relayed the allegations to McClymont, including that a previous police statement had been made, during a recorded conversation played in part to the court.
"This would be an absolute nail in the coffin that police were involved," McClymont said.
"That's just brilliant."
The multiple Walkley award-winner denied she meant it was a nail in the coffin for Jones, insisting she meant the phrase applied to her reporting instead.
She said police previously told her they hadn't received complaints about Jones or investigated, so this was a major development.
"As far as the story goes, it meant this was a significant event, it doesn't mean killing Mr Jones," the journalist told the court.
Months later, a copy of her texts showed she messaged the mother to let her know Jones was subject to a police investigation, punctuated by four exclamation marks.
"I hope the shit does hit the fan for him!" the court was told McClymont wrote, followed by a smiley face emoji and two poo emojis.
Before Jones's arrest in November 2024, a former NSW Police spokesperson promised to let her know "when it all goes down" - which McClymont understood was a reference to Jones.
"Can hardly wait," she responded.
McClymont agreed her first article about Jones generated massive interest for her news outlet and media channels were "saturated" with the allegations.
She spoke to three of five complainants who allege Jones kissed, groped or subjected them to sexual misconduct between 2003 and 2020 and published allegations under pseudonyms.
The 17-year-old disclosed his indecent assault allegations to McClymont after his mother passed on his contact details.
She also spoke to a former radio staffer who told her he had been repeatedly kissed and groped by Jones, including while driving.
An executive reached out to the journalist about his own experience with Jones after reading her article, but insisted he hadn't given her permission to write about it.
But while McClymont couldn't recall whether she had received permission to record the conversation, she said she informed him she might use his account.
He hadn't objected, withdrawn his account, or complained to her about it being contained in her article, the journalist said.
She had sought comment from Jones before each article and included all of Jones's denials of the allegations, the court was told.
McClymont's reporting prompted a famous athlete to go to police with his own claims of being indecently assaulted and sexually touched without consent by Jones.
Jones, 85, has pleaded not guilty to 21 charges of indecent assault and sexual touching without consent and maintains none of the alleged incidents occurred.
Earlier on Wednesday, Jones's former private chef testified she never saw anything untoward during her five years of working for the talkback titan at his NSW Southern Highlands home.
Guests at the home were "all sorts of people" and "always someone interesting", Vanessa Harcourt said.
She was not identified as a witness to any of the alleged incidents.
The trial continues.
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