The Hotplate has been kept on this week but whether the Nine Network's hit new cooking show will remain on Australian screens is yet to be decided.
The Seven Network has launched legal action against Nine, seeking to prevent it from broadcasting episodes of The Hotplate, saying it infringes the copyright of the highly-popular My Kitchen Rules (MKR), which debuted in 2010.
At a Federal Court hearing on Tuesday, Seven's barrister Richard Lancaster SC said the three episodes already aired showed The Hotplate had poached key ingredients from the successful MKR and an urgent injunction should be granted to prevent Nine from showing two more instalments this week.
"Each episode that goes to air is a loss of the value of the exclusivity of the My Kitchen Rules format," Mr Lancaster said.
Although The Hotplate contestants cook in their own restaurants rather than at home like MKR, Mr Lancaster said it was the same technique used to create dramatic tension.
"The contestants or judges come to your domain and judge you, your food and the presentation of your food," he said.
"(It's) not just because the cheesecake didn't work ... it's two people in a joint enterprise in a pressure environment that does or doesn't work out," he added later.
Suspension building techniques, such as racing against the clock and interspersing cooking action with interviews taken after the fact, were also pointed to as key elements of MKR that Nine has allegedly copied to add sizzle to their program.
But the Nine Network's barrister Bruce McClintock SC said an order giving the Nine program the chop would have "dire" consequences for the network, which had already made commitments to advertisers.
"Yes, they cook food ... It's hard to imagine a cooking program that doesn't feature that," he said.
But while MKR's selling point was amateur chefs cooking in real homes, The Hotplate promoted "real chefs doing it in established kitchens".
"No one would describe these programs as eternal works of great literature," Mr McClintock quipped.
Justice John Nicholas, who initially expressed reluctance in watching four hours of the shows, said he would not prevent Nine from airing the show on Tuesday and Wednesday night.
But he will make a decision about whether they can show the rest of the season by the end of the week.
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