The second day of an inquest into the death of Charles McCulloch, 94, heard that police gathered enough evidence to charge another male resident with murder, but prosecutors decided it was not in the public interest, given the suspect's severe dementia.

Mr McCulloch was found dead in his bed with significant facial injuries on 21 January 2012, one day after he moved in to the high-needs secure dementia ward at the Jindalee Aged Care Residence in Narrabundah.

The inquest is examining systemic issues highlighted by the killing - including whether supervision was adequate, whether CCTV should be used to monitor dementia sufferers, and whether increased staff-to-resident ratios were needed for safety - but heard from the outset that blame is unlikely to be laid at the feet of individual staff members.

The response to the discovery of Mr McCulloch's body has come under some scrutiny during the early stages of the inquest.

Shocked staff left the body unsupervised for periods of time, as was the man suspected of the killing.

That morning, there is evidence that three others were assaulted and that Mr McCulloch's body was interfered with.

The registered nurse responsible for the dementia ward went to her nursing director, saying she was going to call the police.

The inquest heard she was told not to call the police, because no one had seen what had happened.

She was told that a doctor should be brought in from the after-hours locum service to try and find out how Mr McCulloch had died, before police were contacted.

Another doctor, who was already on site for unrelated reasons, came to look at the scene and told nursing staff to call police.

The significance of that decision is that police were not called until 8.53am, arriving at 9.11am, despite the body being found at 8am.

Detective Sergeant Sarah Casey continued giving evidence to the inquest on Tuesday. She said police had recommended that Jindalee develop a protocol for dealing with suspicious deaths.

Coroner Peter Dingwall asked her whether the Australian Federal Police could create a draft protocol, that would comply with the standards of criminal investigations, for the inquest to consider.

That protocol could then be used by other aged care services, as well as Jindalee, the inquest heard.

Detective Sergeant Casey also told the inquest that police presented their evidence to the Director of Public Prosecutions, who determined there was enough to charge the suspect with murder.

But the DPP decided it was not in the public interest to proceed with the charge, given the man's severe dementia.

He has since died.

The inquest also heard on Tuesday that no full care plans had been developed for either the victim or the suspect, both of whom were new arrivals.

The suspect had a criminal history, including offences of assault, and had allegedly attacked others in the lead up to the killing.

Counsel assisting Amanda Tonkin said on Monday the inquest would explore whether interim care plans should be developed for new arrivals.

The proceedings will now be on hold until September, when Jindalee staff are expected to give evidence about the killing.

Before adjourning, Mr Dingwall commended and thanked police for a thorough and professional investigation.

Jindalee is also the focus of an unrelated death in 2012 of Aladar Vidak, 81, who was found to have excessively high levels of alcohol in his system.

A previous inquest also looked into the 2007 death of Ruth Rankin Gibson Mussen, who was pulled from her bed in the same dementia ward at Jindalee.

The coroner in that inquest recommended installing CCTV cameras to monitor dementia sufferers.