In evidence this morning the judge overseeing the case, Justice Michael O'Bryan, asked Coles to explain what it was telling customers with its prominent marketing campaign, featuring giant red hands pointing down.
"It's really asking a bigger question about what ordinary consumers understand about the Down Down program," Justice O'Bryan said.
In response, legal counsel for Coles John Sheahan KC said: "In terms of what consumers would take from the advertising campaigns and the red hand — not much."
"It's an indication that Coles is trying to keep prices low," he said.
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Mr Sheahan said the ACCC case was too complicated because it relied on an assumption that the average shopper understood the many factors that went into deciding a price while they were browsing the aisles.
"It's too complex to credibly attribute to an ordinary, reasonable consumer walking down the aisle at Coles," he said.
"What they would be concerned [about] when they're walking down the aisle … is whether the claimed discount was, to use of the expression yesterday 'fair dinkum.'"
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"In the end, all prices are temporary. Nothing lasts forever," Mr Sheahan said.
He said both sides accepted that the pricing tickets customers were shown in store were "literally correct".
Mr Sheahan repeated Coles's defence that it also reflected a genuine discount.
If Coles added background information about the price history to the ticket it would be too difficult to understand, he said.