Accused mushroom poisoner Erin Patterson has formally pleaded “not guilty” to a string of charges relating to the alleged murder of her former in-laws and the attempted murder of her ex-husband.

The 49-year-old faced Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court via video link from prison on Tuesday, wearing a blue jumper and glasses, and with her hair tied up.

She told Magistrate Tim Walsh, “not guilty, Your Honour”, as he read each of the eight murder and attempted murder charges against her.

Patterson is accused of fatally poisoning her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, when she served them beef Wellington containing deadly mushrooms.

All three died in hospital days after consuming the lunch at Patterson’s Leongatha home, in South Gippsland, on July 29, 2023.

She has also been charged with five counts of attempted murder.

Four of the attempted murder charges allegedly relate to her ex-husband Simon — at the same ill-fated lunch and on three other occasions dating back to 2021.

On Tuesday, the court heard details of Patterson’s alleged previous failed attempts to kill her ex-husband.

It was alleged she attempted to murder the father of her two children at Wilsons Promontory on September 6, 2022.

She was also accused of trying to murder him at Howqua, south-west of Mount Buller, between May 25 and 27, 2022, and third time at Korumburra between November 16 and 17, 2021.

The final attempted murder charge relates to Wilkinson’s husband Ian, 68, who spent almost two months being treated in the Austin Hospital, including in a coma, after eating the beef Wellington.

Patterson elected not to have a committal, which means her case will be fast-tracked to a trial at the Supreme Court of Victoria.

She was remanded in custody, with her case listed for a directions hearing at the Supreme Court on May 23.

In April, her barrister Colin Mandy SC said his client wanted a committal at Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court and would wait in custody if it could not happen until next year.

Mandy said Patterson wanted the committal to be held close to her home.

On Tuesday, Walsh clarified the committal would have been so delayed only because of Mandy’s availability – not because the court could not hear “a very significant matter” until early or mid-2025.

Walsh said the case demanded senior counsel in his view, and was not the kind that could be passed over to another barrister on short notice given its “extremely voluminous brief”.

-with AAP