Gable Tostee will have to wait at least one more day to find out if he will be convicted over the death of New Zealand tourist Warriena Wright.
The jury in the Gold Coast carpet layer's trial began their deliberations on Monday afternoon but were unable to reach a verdict speedily.
Tostee, 30, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Wright in the early hours of August 8, 2014 when she fell to her death from the 14th floor balcony of his apartment in an alleged attempt to escape him.
An audio recording Tostee made on his mobile phone that captured the violent struggle between the pair and Ms Wright's eventual death has been the key piece of evidence in the six-day trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court.
Justice John Byrne told the jury on Monday they could only find Tostee guilty of murder if they were satisfied beyond reasonable doubt he had choked her before locking her out on his balcony.
Prosecutor Glen Cash had argued during the trial Ms Wright was choked for up to 45 seconds by Tostee and could be heard "gurgling" on the recording.
Tostee then refused her pleas to let her go home, telling her, "I would but you've been a bad girl".
Mr Cash said Tostee intimidated the 26-year-old petite Kiwi so much she felt the only way to escape him was to seek refuge in the apartment below.
"He has caused her death as much as if he had pushed her from the balcony himself," Mr Cash said.
Pathologist Dianne Little testified there was no evidence Ms Wright was manually strangled before she died but there were choke holds, often used by law enforcement officers, that would not leave marks.
Justice Byrne told the six men and six women jurors they could find Tostee guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter if they concluded he unlawfully killed Ms Wright, but did not intend to cause her possibly fatal harm.
He said they were not allowed to find him guilty just because he called a lawyer and left the building via the basement after Ms Wright died.
"You cannot reason just because the accused behaved in a way that you think he shouldn't have that he is guilty of murder," Justice Byrne said.
Defence barrister Saul Holt last week argued it was not foreseeable Ms Wright would climb over the balcony in darkness to certain death seconds later but that showed how irrational she was.
The trial had heard the struggle between the pair broke out after Ms Wright started throwing decorative rocks at Tostee and telling him to "bow down" to Sam Winchester, a character on the TV show Supernatural she thought he looked like.
Mr Holt said Tostee did not choke Ms Wright but managed her "craziness" by restraining her and saying things he probably now regretted, such as "you're lucky I haven't chucked you off my balcony, you goddamn psycho bitch".
"You don't get convicted of murder or manslaughter for saying stupid things or for being angry," Mr Holt said.
