The alleged theft took place at a building shared by Hungry Jack's and a Coles Express Service Station in Fyshwick, on the corner of Newcastle and Wollongong streets, in June 2011.

Mark Garvin, 26, was a manager at the fast food store and entered the building at night to work on paperwork while not on shift.

He is accused of breaking through a wire mesh separating the coolrooms of the two businesses, before entering the Coles Express storeroom and stealing the cigarettes from a safe. The prosecution alleges that Garvin confessed to a colleague from Hungry Jack's in Civic later that year and showed him a bag of cigarette cartons.

They also allege he tried to sell the cigarettes to other Hungry Jack's staff.

But the defence say that Garvin has an alibi for the night, and was with two friends in Kingston at the time a sensor was tripped in the service station's storeroom.

They say the accused then went back to his family home in Duffy, where he remained for the rest of the night.

Garvin denies making any confession, and said he was selling cigarettes that he took from his father.

The court heard his father, who does not smoke, regularly bought duty free cigarettes and whiskey as gifts during trips overseas.

CCTV vision of the area outside the service station at the time was taped over and is now missing, the court heard.

Garvin's lawyer also argued that there was no evidence that the accused knew anything about the cigarette safe.

The court heard from a console operator at the service station, who had gone out for drinks with the accused on two occasions. She said she had not given him any information on the safe or security systems in the building.

But she told the court she had forgotten to check whether the safe had been locked before she finished her shift on the night of the alleged crime.

The jury trial continues on Thursday.