Joshua Higgins, 32, earlier this year was found guilty of manslaughter after stabbing his friend, Jae-Ho Oh, in March 2019 following hours of heavy drinking between the pair.

Higgins appeared in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday after pleading not guilty to murder but a trial of more than three weeks found him guilty of the lesser charge.

The court previously heard that Higgins, who had not slept for two days before the killing, injected ice, drove to Fitzroy Falls in NSW and lost $300 gambling before asking Mr Oh if he could stay over.

The pair spent the day drinking at the victim's Gungahlin townhouse, leaving once to take the bus to buy more alcohol.

Higgins' account of the death was that following the drinking, he went to sleep before being awoken with Mr Oh on top of him while his pants were pulled down.

Higgins said Mr Oh admitted to touching him before Mr Oh started yelling then went to grab a knife from the kitchen.

The pair wrestled before Mr Oh grabbed another knife, more wrestling followed before the attack that led to the death.

The court on Monday heard the victim sustained 34 separate injuries that included eight facial injuries and 14 stabs to his back.

Defence barrister Kieran Ginges said the three possible bases for the killing were provocation from the sexual advancements, self defence and diminished responsibility through mental impairment.

Mr Ginges said his client had "an underlying substantial impairment" being anxiety and PTSD from being an assault victim in 2010.

He said Higgins was provoked by Mr Oh's non-violent sexual advances, who "snapped and became aggressive" when confronted before becoming violent with a knife.

Mr Ginges said his client did not set out to kill or injure his friend and that it was the victim who was the "provocateur and the instigator of it".

He said the victim's personality mixed with Higgins confronting him about the sexual advances that led to "a well and truly tragic set of circumstances".

"There was an underlying aggression or unstableness to Mr Oh's personality," he said.

"A volatile mix of that personality and Mr Higgins becoming confrontational with Mr Oh and the circumstances that occurred in a fight or flight is just a cauldron of sadness that ended in Mr Oh losing his life and Mr Higgins going to jail.

"This is a most tragic case ... where a life has been lost. I don't seek any way to minimise that in any respect. There are no winners."

Mr Ginges said his client had a reliable and truthful account of the incident because his story was consistent with various experts' witnesses during trial.

He said Higgins had also told police about things not necessarily in his interest, including drugs and gambling.

In relation to remorse, Mr Ginges said the offender had offered to plead guilty to manslaughter during meetings with the prosecution before the trial.

Crown prosecutor Trent Hickey described the killing as an "extremely excessive" and a "short-and-frenzied attack" in which the victim "looked dead" before emergency services arrived.

He said the "savagery of it all" meant it was above the mid range of objective seriousness for manslaughter.

"The number of stab wounds, the number of injuries were extremely excessive," he said.

Mr Hickey said provocation was "not really a sound basis" because a reasonable person would not lose control based on Higgins' account of events.

He said the other two bases were open to Justice John Burns.

Mr Hickey said Higgins gave his first account of the incident only after the brief of evidence was served on his lawyers, but it "doesn't marry up with the crime scene photo where the blood shedding occurred".

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The court heard Higgins had a long history of alcohol and substance abuse and drug-induced psychosis.

Mr Hickey also said Higgins had a history of blacking out and impulsive and aggressive behaviour.

He said Higgins had been "on notice for a long time" about his drug and alcohol problems, increasing his moral culpability in killing Mr Oh.

The prosecutor questioned "how likely it is that he was able to wrestle and disarm Mr Oh in a way that he says, given his high level of drunkenness and extreme sleep deprivation".

The jury in late March took two days to reach its decision after more than three weeks of trial.

Justice John Burns has reserved his decision and will determine what led to the death.

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