The "out of control" north Canberra man is also accused of punching the woman in various areas, including the jaw, verbally abusing her and attempting to throw her phone out the car window.

But the ACT Magistrates Court heard on Tuesday that the 34-year-old man, who is not being named in order to protect the alleged victim's identity, intended to plead not guilty to an assault charge.

His lawyer, Georgia Briggs, said he had instructed her his eye had been scratched and there was "an element of self-defence".

Ms Briggs said this as she successfully applied for her client, who had spent nearly a week in custody, to be released on bail.

Police allege in court documents that the defendant made racist and "vulgar" comments at a pub while celebrating his partner's promotion with the woman and their two young children last week.

His belligerence is said to have continued when they left to go home, when he apparently refused to help one of the children with a seatbelt, swore and tried to release the handbrake.

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Police claim he kept "carrying on" from the front passenger seat during the drive back to their place, screaming at his partner and also turning physical.

The woman almost ran their car off the road when the defendant allegedly pulled her hair, causing her head to drop so low she could not see where she was going, according to police.

Her partner is also alleged to have punched her in the left eye at one stage, leaving her with blurry vision for about 10 minutes.

When they arrived home, the defendant allegedly asked her: "What are you going to do, call the police?"

The woman did just that and her partner was arrested that night.

When the man appeared in court the next day, magistrate James Stewart refused his application for bail.

He mounted a fresh bid for conditional freedom before a different magistrate, Glenn Theakston, on Tuesday.

Ms Briggs told the court then that her client had lost 10kg because he had been "unable to eat" in the roughly six days he had spent in the Alexander Maconochie Centre.

She said the defendant, whose numerous jobs include a casual role as a prison officer in the NSW correctional system, had been segregated in the jail for reasons including the nature of his work.

Ms Briggs said the man had also "testified against members of a well-known crime family", some of whom were incarcerated in the Alexander Maconochie Centre now, when he was a child.

Being behind bars had impacted significantly on his physical and mental health, the lawyer said, and this would continue unless he was released.

Ultimately, Ms Briggs said, there was no reason the court should not grant her client bail.

Prosecutor Emma Bacchetto disagreed, arguing in part that the man was likely to endanger the alleged victim's safety and welfare.

Ms Bacchetto added that the alleged offence appeared to have occurred against a background of a long period of domestic violence.

Mr Theakston decided to allow bail despite what he said were "very serious" allegations.

He said there was some suggestion the defendant was "a bit out of control at the time", and possibly under the influence of alcohol.

The magistrate accordingly imposed a bail condition that banned the man from drinking alcohol, alongside a number of other terms designed to protect the alleged victim and the couple's children.

The defendant, who appeared in court via audio-visual link from Canberra's jail, is due back in court next month.

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