A court has heard grim details of the alleged murders of campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay, as the anticipated trial of an ex-airline pilot began on Thursday.

Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn faced the Supreme Court in Melbourne and pleaded not guilty to each of the murders that allegedly happened in Victoria’s alpine region in 2020.

Fourteen jurors — six women and two men — were empanelled and will decide the fate of the 57-year-old in a four to six week trial.

Both sides will open their cases on Friday morning.

Lynn was charged in November 2021 with murdering the campers, whose missing persons case became one of Australia’s most high-profile crime stories in March 2020.

Justice Michael Croucher told jurors that prosecutors would allege Lynn killed Clay, 73, and Hill, 74, while they were camping at Bucks Camp in the Wonnangatta Valley.

“It will be alleged that Mr Lynn shot Ms Clay in the head, as a result killing her, and that Mr Lynn killed Mr Hill,” he told the jury.

“These events are alleged to have occurred on 20 March, 2020.”

He said Lynn was working as an airline captain for Jetstar at the time of the alleged murders.

Clay and Hill were childhood sweethearts who reunited later in life.

Carol Clay and Russell Hill were camping together when they went missing. Photo: AAP

Dozens of witnesses will be called to give evidence, including friends and family of the two victims, campers, forensic pathologists and police.

Lynn is represented by defence barrister Dermot Dann KC and the Crown’s prosecutor is Daniel Porceddu.

Hill and Clay were last heard from on March 20, 2020, when Hill, an experienced outdoorsman, made a call via high-frequency radio saying he was at Wonnangatta Valley.

Their remains were not found until November 2021 when police zeroed in on the crime scene, after Lynn was charged with two counts of murder.

-with AAP