Christchurch mosque shooting: Survivors attend pre-trial court hearing

The alleged gunman is due to stand trial for the March 15 mosque shootings in June this year.

Survivors of the March 15 mosque shootings in Christchurch have today attended a pre-trial court hearing for the alleged gunman.

Australian national Brenton Harrison Tarrant, 29, denies 51 murder charges and 40 attempted murder charges along with a charge laid under the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002.

His case is proceeding to a trial scheduled to begin at the High Court in Christchurch on June 2.

The trial is expected to take around six weeks.

Today, Justice Cameron Mander presided over a pre-trial application this morning.

The reason for today's hour-long hearing and the issues it covered have been suppressed by the judge.

The alleged gunman, who remains in custody, was excused from being present in court. He was represented by Auckland-based lawyers Shane Tait and Jonathan Hudson.

Around 30 victims and family members of the two March 15 shootings at Al Noor Masjid and Linwood Islamic Centre were in the public gallery today to witness the proceedings.

Justice Mander issued his decision at the conclusion of today's hearing but it cannot be reported due to suppression rulings.