Crown and its development partner Lendlease are suing the state government over what they claim are multiple breaches of contracts to develop casino and residential towers at the southern end of Barangaroo.

The legal fight is, some might say, peak Sydney. There's a stoush over water views. There's aggressive lobbying. There's James Packer and his coterie of advisers. And there's a small army of high-priced barristers squabbling over closely-worded clauses.

But documents tabled in the Supreme Court last week reveal that concessions already made by the agency in charge of developing Barangaroo mean that the bulk of Crown's casino, hotel and apartment tower would be little affected by the issue at the heart of the dispute.

This issue is whether the "sight lines" from the casino tower to both the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge will be blocked by developments at a separate section of Barangaroo, Central Barangaroo.

According to a report prepared for Crown, the most recent Central Barangaroo plans prepared by the Barangaroo Delivery Authority would block Crown's views of the base of the Harbour Bridge only from level three to level seven of the 71-storey development - or through 15 metres of the 275-metre tower.

Those levels include a proposed restaurant, a gym, and executive offices. The report, by architectural modeller Grant Kolln and released by the court on Tuesday, also shows that views to the north-west tip of the Sydney Opera House would be affected for only a fraction of Crown's hotel rooms on floors seven to 24, and only those towards the southern side of the structure.

Separate documents tabled in court show the extent to which the BDA has attempted to accomodate the concerns of Crown and Lendlease.

The BDA's most recent plan for Central Barangaroo, outlined in a September letter to Lendlease's chief of property development, Kylie Lampa, and Crown's development chief Todd Nisbet, proposes a maximum gross floor area up to 138,000 square metres.

That is significantly above that which had been proposed to be built on the site when broad concept plans for Barangaroo were drawn up earlier in the decade.

But it is also below the 150,000 square metres that the government, under former premier Mike Baird, said it wanted to develop on Central Barangaroo after committing in 2015 to build a metro station at the site.

Crown and Lendlease are arguring two points against the BDA. One is that under clauses in their 2015 contracts to develop at Barangaroo South, they should have been progressively consulted on the development plans for Central Barangaroo.

The second argument is that the BDA committed to "retaining" their sight lines at Barangaroo South, whatever the shape of the development at Central Barangaroo.

The sight lines at Lendlease's development will be significantly more affected than Crown's casino complex, which is due to be completed in 2021. Lendlease has plans to construct three buildings, dominated by twin residential towers, at the same waterfront site.

After Lendlease and Crown launched legal action in August, Lendlease' chief executive, Steve McCann, wrote to all NSW cabinet members. In his letter, Mr McCann said multibillion-dollar investments such as at Barangaroo required "certainty" about outcomes, and all parties acting "in the true spirit of the agreement".

"Unfortunately, in relation to sight lines, this is no longer the case," Mr McCann's letter said, before also requesting an independent review into the issue.

The case is to return to court on November 21.

In a directions hearing last month, Justice Robert McDougall said he would include documents from the chief executive of Mr Packer's privately-owned Consolidated Press Holdings, Guy Jalland, in an order for the discovery of information about discussions relating to the sightlines requested by the BDA. The judge also included documents from Crown executive chairman John Alexander, and Mr Nisbet in the discovery order.

The companies argue the BDA had to negotiate in good faith with them about proposed departures from the plan for Central Barangaroo that "guaranteed them sight lines" to the harbour.

The BDA is arguing the relevant clauses in the contracts were not directed at an "outcome", but were focused on good faith negotiations that did not guarantee sight lines.

The BDA has contracted with developer Grocon to build Central Barangaroo, but has not yet finalised the plan for that development.