Michael O'Neill strangled his boyfriend Stuart Rattle with a dog leash, then brewed him a cup of tea and talked to the renowned interior designer's lifeless body as if nothing had happened.
O'Neill continued his life as normal for five days while Mr Rattle lay dead in their Melbourne home, spending the weekend at their country retreat, dining with friends and attending business engagements.
He even set the table for two, poured glasses of wine for his partner of 16 years and bought his favourite cake.
O'Neill maintained the charade before setting fire to the South Yarra apartment on December 9 last year to try to conceal his crime.
O'Neill, 48, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to the murder and arson.
He bludgeoned Mr Rattle with a saucepan as he lay in their bed, then strangled him with a dog leash, documents tendered to the Melbourne Magistrates Court show.
O'Neill then made his dead partner a cup of tea, according to a transcript of his police interview.
"We have dogs and they have leads, you know those sort of nylon leads, and I used one of those to strangle him. Why, I'm not quite sure," O'Neill told police.
"I don't know why I did it. I love Stuart so much - he's so good to me.
"And I just tried to pretend it didn't happen. It sounds absurd. I made him a cup of tea."
Over the next five days O'Neill said he bought two of everything.
"On the weekend I bought food for two, I set the table for breakfast for two, bought two dinners and his favourite cake on Sunday night, brought two glasses of wine on Sunday night, served two dinners on Sunday night as well.
"As if it didn't happen, sat there and talked to him ... he was such a good person."
O'Neill initially told police Mr Rattle died in the blaze.
But an autopsy found Mr Rattle, 53, had a skull fracture and likely died from compression of the neck.
O'Neill told the court, "I'm guilty your honour".
His barrister Ruth Shann said her client was in a "fragile state of mind" and had lost 20kg since his arrest.
She applied to have O'Neill's record of interview with police suppressed from the media, saying it contained no explanation for why O'Neill "spontaneously reacted as he did".
She said details of the nature of the couple's relationship and how Mr Rattle treated O'Neill would be told to a later plea hearing.
But Magistrate Gerard Lethbridge rejected her application.
O'Neill now faces a directions hearing in the Victorian Supreme Court in September.
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