Live from Supreme Court of NSW

Justice Ian Harrison SC has found Lynette Dawson is dead, but is still yet to rule on whether her husband, Chris Dawson, is guilty of her murder.

After three hours of reading his decision, Justice Harrison told the court he was adjourning for a 30-minute break, and would return to complete his verdict.

Dawson, a former teacher and rugby league player, is accused of killing his wife to be with the teenage babysitter.

The 74-year-old has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Lynette, who mysteriously vanished from their Bayside home in the summer of 1982.

The 33-year-old nurse was last made contact with on Friday 8, 1982, when she spoke to her mother on the phone. She was never seen or heard from again, and her body was never found.

Police allege she was killed either Friday evening or early the following morning.

Chris Dawson will learn his fate on Tuesday after a prolonged murder trial. Photo / NCA Newswire

Dawson fought the murder charges in a sensational 10-week trial before Justice Ian Harrison which heard Lynette disappeared just weeks after her husband had unsuccessfully tried to run off with the babysitter.

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The teenage babysitter, JC, was one of Dawson's former students, who came to live with the family and care for their children in 1981.

She told the Court she had sex with her former teacher while his wife was asleep. In late 1981, Dawson and the babysitter packed a car with their belongings and set out to move to Queensland.

The couple didn't make it to Queensland, instead turning around when JC felt ill. A few months later in early 1982, the babysitter told the Court she received a call from Dawson telling her "Lyn's gone, she's not coming back".

She married her former teacher two years later, but the couple bitterly split after six years together.

In 1990, JC claimed Dawson had contemplated hiring a hit-man to kill Lynette, but had refrained because, as she told the Court, he said, "Innocent people would be killed; could be hurt".

Despite the eyebrow-raising claims from JC, Dawson's defence team argued Lynette was alive after her disappearance.

They relied on five sightings in the two years after Lynette vanished by people who knew her, including the Dawson's former neighbours, Chris Dawson's brother-in-law, and family friends.

The defence argued Lynette had willingly abandoned their Northern Beaches home and her children, who never heard from her again.

One witness told the Court Lynette had told him she was planning to run away from her marital problems.

The court heard evidence from Lynette's colleagues and friends that Dawson was physically abusive and despised her.

Today's decision will mark the eagerly anticipated conclusion of a captivating murder trial that bore all the twists and turns of a Hollywood film.

The case of Lynette's disappearance had gone cold, but it was revived after an award-winning podcast called The Teacher's Pet sparked international interest.