Day 3 in Lisbon, Portugal, at the McCanns’ v Amaral libel trial. Courtesy of Jon di Paolo’s tweets:

9:23: Good morning. We’re outside the courthouse for the third day of the McCann libel trial.
9:26: We’ve had rain every day so far – but this morning the sun has come up and cast a rainbow over the court building. A good omen for someone?
9:35: Cameras are out in force again outside the court today – interest in the trial shows no sign of waning.
9:53: Kate McCann has arrived at court. She stopped briefly outside to speak to the waiting press pack.
9:53: Mrs McCann said she was still confident of winning the case.
9:56: Kate McCann: there were mistakes made in the investigation but we need to look forward really.
9:58: Kate McCann: i believe this was the right course of action. i have confidence in the Portuguese justice system.
9:59: Kate McCann: we need to find Madeleine. That’s why we’re here.
10:18: We’re back in court and proceedings are under way. Kate McCann is here, but Gerry has flown back to the UK.
10:20: Mrs McCann is sitting on the front bench of the public seating with Fiona Payne, a close friend and member of the so-called ‘Tapas Seven’.
10:21: There are far fewer people in the court today. Journalists, campaigners and members of the public packed the benches for the past two days.
10:24: There are only eight or so people other than Mrs McCann, Mrs Payne and the McCanns’ translators.
10:24: Another notable absentee is Gonçalo Amaral, the former policeman whose controversial book sparked the libel action.
10:32: The first witness is being called – Antonio Paulo Santos.
10:36: Mr Santos is a lawyer and general manager for the video production association, a nationwide industry body,
10:38: He is also an ex-investigator for Portuguese police, making him a colleague of Mr Amaral’s, although they worked in different departments.
10:38: Mr Amaral has arrived in court and has taken a seat in between two lawyers.
10:39: Mr Santos tells the court he considers himself an acquaintance of Mr Amaral’s.
10:42: The judge has stressed that this hearing is separate to the action being brought by the McCanns for £1m in damages.
10:44: She stresses that this trial is solely about the publication and distribution of the book and the documentary upon which it was based.
10:51: Mr Santos is discussing the details of the contract between Mr Amaral and the makers of the documentary.
10:52: Mr Santos: I read Mr Amaral’s book and watched the documentary on television.
10:53: Mr Santos: Mr Amaral never accused the McCanns of guilt, either in the book or the documentary..
10:57: Mr Santos: As a former policeman, I think Mr Amaral’s conclusions are based on the evidence gathered during the official investigation.
10:58: Mr Santos: Mr Amaral’s personal honour prevented him from publishing the book before his retirement from the police force.
11:00: The contract between the documentary maker, VC Films, and Mr Amaral was signed in March 2008.
11:02: Mr Santos: While Mr Amaral was in charge of the investigation he came under attack from sections of the British media.
11:03: Mr Santos is becoming quite impassioned and raising his voice as he gives his testimony.
11:04: Mr Santos: Sections of the British media portrayed Mr Amaral as an alcoholic.
11:04: Mr Santos: Mr Amaral was given no support by his superiors in the Portuguese police.
11:05: Mr Santos: Mr Amaral was pursuing the truth, and only the truth, no matter what conclusions it led to.
11:06: Mr Santos: Mr Amaral decided to publish the book to clear his professional reputation.
11:08: Mr Santos: I am a father too. God prevent that I ever lose any of my children. I understand the pain felt by the McCanns.
11:08: Mr Santos: I don’t think the book or the documentary increased the pain felt by Madeleine’s parents.
11:09: Mr Santos: There is no greater pain than losing a child.
11:10: Mr Santos: If there is evidence that Madeleine has been seen, then the investigation will be re-opened.
11:11: Mr Santos: But up to now, none of the information published by the media has been strong enough to make the police re-open the case.
11:14: Mr Santos: The facts of the investigation can be found on the internet and are available to everyone.
11:17: Mr Santos: Pirate copies of the documentary based on Mr Amaral’s book were put on the internet and a copyright complaint was made to police.
11:25: The McCanns’ lawyer, Isabel Duarte, asks Mr Santos if he remembers the colour of the first page of the police investigation file.
11:25: Mr Santos says he doesn’t remember. Ms Duarte says she finds this strange.
11:30: The judge is sitting slumped in her chair, her chin resting on one hand as she listens to the exchanges between Ms Duarte and Mr Santos.
11:37: Mr Amaral has got up and left the courtroom without any explanation.
11:45: Mr Amaral has left the court building through the back entrance.
11:47: Carlos Coelho da Silva, TV director at VC Films, the production company behind the film based on the Amaral book, has taken the stand.
11:48: Mr da Silva says he has a professional relationship with Mr Amaral.
11:49: Mr da Silva: We reconstructed some scenes in order to facilitate the understanding of the events surrounding Madeleine’s disappearance.
11:54: Mr da Silva: It was crucial that Mr Amaral was involved in the production of the documentary.
11:56: Mr da Silva: Mr Amaral’s theory is that the McCanns hid Madeleine’s body.
11:57: Mr da Silva appears uncomfortable under the line of questioning he is facing.
11:59: Mr da Silva: The documentary is based on the book. I didn’t add anything else.
12:02: Mr da Silva: When we consider making a new film we think in terms of profits, as we are a commercial company.
12:07: Mr da Silva: When we carried out a reconstruction I realised Mr Amaral’s frustration at the McCanns’ account of Madeleine’s disappearance.
12:17: Mr da Silva: In my opinion, the documentary does not provide the last word on the case. Its conclusion calls for further investigation.
12:23: Isabel Duarte asks Mr da Silva whether he has seen the official case files. He says no.
12:23: Ms Duarte, the McCanns’ top lawyer, then asks how Mr da Silva can say Mr Amaral’s book was based on the case, if he hasn’t read the file.
12:29: Isabel Duarte: Why didn’t you include the public attorney’s verdict that the conclusions arrived at by the investigators were incorrect?
12:29: Mr da Silva: Because I was telling a story.
12:31: Mr da Silva: Because I was telling a story.
12:32: Mr da Silva has finished giving evidence and left the courtroom.
12:35: Proceedings are breaking up for lunch.
1:33: Kate McCann outside court: it has been shown again that there is no evidence to support Amaral’s claims.
1:34: Kate McCann says having her friend Fiona Payne here has been a big support.
1:36: Isabel Duarte: we knew we would open a Pandora’s Box and that we had to face the enemy.
1:37: Isabel Duarte: the Amaral side is trying to do in civil court what it could not do in criminal court.
1:39: There will be a further hearing in this case on February 10 when two more witnesses are being called.
1:43: Amaral says that if he loses this case he will appeal to the Supreme Court and the European court of human rights.
1:49: Amaral has denied a report that he swore when speaking about the McCanns yesterday.
2:54: The court has re-started for the afternoon session – but Gonçalo Amaral, Kate McCann and Fiona Payne are all absent.
2:58: The McCanns’ senior lawyer, Isabel Duarte, said during the lunchtime break that this is only the first part of the injunction process.
2:58: This week’s hearings are only to decide whether the temporary injunction should be sustained, ahead of a main trial for the full injunction.
2:59: The judge may make a decision after hearing the two extra witnesses on February 10, or she may take more time to consider her verdict.
2:59: The final verdict in this preliminary hearing will be released to the lawyers on each side but will not be made public.
3:01: However, it should be easy to tell who has won – by seeing whether Mr Amaral’s book goes back on sale.
3:01: Ms Duarte also said she has made an official complaint to the police about Mr Amaral, alleging that he has abused the legal aid system.
3:17: Kate McCann and Fiona Payne have returned to the courtroom and resumed their positions on the bench at the front of the public seating.
3:23: Luis Cunha Velho, from Portugal’s biggest TV channel, TVI, has taken the witness stand.
3:24: Mr Velho: The amount of people who saw the documentary based on the book was far smaller than the audience for the McCanns’ Oprah interview.
3:26: Isabel Duarte (McCann lawyer): How many people in Portugal saw the Oprah interview with the McCanns?
3:29: Mr Velho: Not very many people saw the Oprah interview because it was broadcast on cable television.
3:29: Duarte: Did you know that the documentary was broadcast on Madeleine’s birthday?
3:29: Mr Velho: No, I didn’t know that.
3:31: Duarte: Did you know the content of the documentary before it was broadcast?
3:34: Velho: No.
3:34: Duarte: Why was your channel interested in the documentary?
3:34: Velho: Because we wanted a documentary about the case.
3:36: Mr Velho’s testimony has ended and he has left the court.
3:36: The next witness to take the stand is Paulo Soares, another executive from TVI.
3:39: Soares: We tried to buy the documentary produced by (British) Channel 4 but were unable to.
3:42: Soares: I received an email from a British production company advising me that they were going to produce another documentary on Madeleine.
3:44: Soares: I took the email in to the usual weekly executive meeting in order to decide whether or not to buy it.
3:45: Soares: I did not know what material the British documentary contained.
3:47: Soares: I heard the McCanns were involved in the production of the documentary.
3:48: Soares: Though there were lots of cameras in the Algarve there was no in-depth analysis of the case.
3:56: Soares: Suddenly, the production firm lost interest in selling the documentary, because the McCanns didn’t want it broadcast on our channel.
3:59: Soares: Channel 4 bought the rights to the documentary, which covered its broadcast in Portugal.
4:01: Soares: The deal with Channel 4 would have restricted the amount of time available for us to broadcast the documentary.
4:01: Soares: That’s why we chose the Portuguese documentary instead.
4:03: Soares: We had allocated a specific time slot to broadcast a documentary about Madeleine – whether it was the British or Portuguese version.
4:05: Soares: The marketing and communication plan was unaffected by the version chosen.
4:26: The McCanns’ lawyer, Isabel Duarte, is cross-examining Mr Soares on the subject of the channel’s decision-making.
4:47: Proceedings have been put on hold for a short break.
4:58: Kate McCann has left court. She said she believes in Portuguese justice and these proceedings will go a long way to help find Madeleine.
5:21: We’re back in court and Ana Teixera, international programming director for TVI, is the next witness to take the stand.
5:23: She tells the court that the channel’s general programme director had wanted to buy the Channel 4 documentary on the McCanns.
5:26: Teixera: They signed the deal to screen the Channel 4 documentary, but a time slot was not assigned. It was pencilled in for 9.15pm.
6:00: Teixera: A few days later we received a call from Channel 4 saying the documentary was not to be sold to TVI because the McCanns opposed it.
6:04: Teixera: We requested via their lawyer that the McCanns take into consideration the fact that TVI is Portugal’s biggest broadcaster.
6:06: Teixera: We then acknowledged that another Portuguese channel, SIC, was going to broadcast the documentary.
6:06: TVI tried to stop the broadcast by SIC but their attempt was rebuffed by a court.
6:08: Teixera: All this means that TVI did everything it could to broadcast the documentary.
6:10: Teixera: There are three main reasons to broadcast both documentaries.
6:13: Teixera: Firstly, audiences; secondly, to get two versions of the case; thirdly, to prevent rival channel SIC getting the audience share.
6:13: Proceedings are finished and will start again on the 10th of February.