But the woman told a court her passport was taken, she was on-call around the clock and was expected to service as many as 14 clients a day with just minutes' notice.

The court also heard a Bangkok travel agency would falsely put Thai women on its books in an effort to secure tourist visas and illegal work in the Australian sex industry.

Brothel madam Watcharaporn Nantahkhum is standing trial in the ACT Supreme Court charged with possessing the woman as a slave and perverting the course of justice.

She is also facing four Migration Act charges relating to the woman and another sex worker, including allowing an unlawful non-citizen to work in conditions of exploitation.

The 45-year-old Kambah woman has pleaded not guilty to all six allegations. Her barrister has urged the jury to keep an open mind about the case, and reminded them the prosecution carried the burden of proving each charge beyond reasonable doubt. To prove the allegation of slavery the prosecution would have to establish Nantahkhum exerted control over the alleged victim.

The court heard one of the complainants - the subject of the slavery charge - worked in cosmetics in early 2007 until she ran into financial strife. ''I didn't have money, I had trouble at work … I had financial problem because I had to help with my father's funeral,'' she said through a Thai translator.

She told the jury she had to care for her son and mother, but the bank was asking the family to repay a debt on their rice field in the provinces.

She said that when a friend of a friend told her about the opportunities for sex workers in Australia she saw it as a chance to make ''a lot of money''.

She was allegedly put in touch with Anekhnan Nantahkhum - the defendant's sister - and a man she knew only as ''Koi'', who ran a Bangkok-based travel agency.

The court heard the agency - P&S International Tour Groups - separately arranged for both sex workers to be listed as directors to support their applications for tourist visas.

But former Department of Immigration and Citizenship officer Daniel Tom said the conditions of their visas banned them from working. Mr Tom said, after the two overstayed their visas, investigators looking into suspected fraud and discovered the women's names had been removed from the company registers.

The alleged victim said prior to arriving in Australia she was told she would be initially working to pay off a $45,000 debt, although she did not initially understand the amount.

After her arrival in Canberra it is alleged the defendant told her she would take a portion of her earnings to cover rent and she would get the remainder. But it is alleged that share was also withheld until the debt - negotiated down to $43,000 - was paid off.

The woman said she was allowed to keep her share one day each week.

During the first month or two the woman said she only left the apartment twice.

She said she was required to be on-call 24 hours a day and would be expected to service a client within five or 10 minutes of getting a call from Nantahkhum. She said she would sometimes start work at 6.30am-7am, and her working days generally ended as late as 1am.

The trial before Justice Richard Refshauge continues Monday.