William Howard Mackinder, 31, faced sentencing in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to one count of trafficking cocaine.

The court heard that in June last year, Mackinder drove from Canberra to Sydney to pick up the package of cocaine.

On his return to the ACT, police stopped and searched his car and found the package, in which 77 per cent of the 503g of cocaine was pure with a street value of more than $150,000.

The court heard Mackinder developed an addiction to cocaine after his eight-year marriage broke down and he had built up a substantial debt to his supplier.

There were some suggestions the supplier had threatened Mackinder if he did not pick up the package, but Justice John Burns said there was insufficient evidence.

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Justice John Burns sentenced Mackinder to a 2.5-year intensive corrections order that includes 300 hours of community service.

In his remarks, Justice Burns said "this is serious criminal offending".

He said while the offender was not involved in buying or on-selling the drug, his role was "nevertheless was a vital one in the chain of distribution and the quantity of cocaine was quite substantial".

"There is no evidence that you were aware of the precise quantity of cocaine you were carrying, but you must have had a pretty good idea," he said.

"You saw the size of the package and you handled it so you knew approximately how much it weighed."

Justice Burns said multiple testimonies spoke "very positively of you" and that the offending was out of character.

The court heard Mackinder's pre-sentence report stated he had a low-medium risk of reoffending and that he had good prospects of rehabilitation as he had already begun drug counselling.

The maximum penalty for the offence is 10 years jail, $160,000 fine or both.

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