Multiple witnesses who claim they saw no evidence of any sexual abuse from controversial radio host Alan Jones could clear his name, a court has been told.

The 84-year-old has pleaded not guilty to 25 charges of indecent assault and two charges of sexual touching against nine alleged victims over 17 years when he dominated airwaves.

He is due to fight the allegations at a months-long hearing commencing in August, but Jones’s lawyer Bryan Wrench said a lot of the evidence appears to clear his client’s name.

“We received 800 pages of material we believe is exculpatory of Mr Jones,” he told Sydney’s Downing Centre local court on Friday.

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That includes eight witnesses who say they didn’t see any of the alleged misconduct, Wrench said.

The prosecution previously indicated it would call up to 139 witnesses during the hearing over the allegations, which could run for up to four months.

The defence claim comes after Jones’s legal team issued nearly two dozen subpoenas as part of their own investigation after being told by the prosecution that all relevant evidence had been passed on.

“The cupboard was bare,” Wrench said.

The crown prosecutor previously pointed to issues of legal and journalistic privilege as a cause for the delayed production of evidence, including analysis reports on Jones’s phone.

Negotiations over privileged material are still ongoing and now include sensitive information about the complainants, the court was told.

The matter will return to court on 5 March.

Jones was arrested in November 2024 after an eight-month police investigation into historical sexual abuse allegations.

He is accused of sexual misconduct against nine complainants between 2003 and 2020, both behind closed doors and in public places, including restaurants, events and the Sydney Opera House.

The charges, which Jones has said are “all either baseless or they distort the truth”, followed a hugely influential broadcasting career launched in 1985.

During his decades on the air, Jones became a feared interviewer who excelled at questioning leaders while dividing audiences with his outspoken views.

He worked with Sydney radio station 2UE before joining rival 2GB, where he was a longtime ratings juggernaut until 2020.

Alongside a failed tilt at politics, he also coached the Australian national men’s rugby union team through some historic achievements between 1984 and 1988.