Former detectives and murderers Roger Rogerson and Glen McNamara did not even flinch when they heard the punishment the prosecution was asking for.
In June, the pair were convicted of murdering university student and small-time drug dealer Jamie Gao, 20, in 2014.
During their sentencing hearing on Thursday, Crown prosecutor Christopher Maxwell QC submitted that the pair should be sentenced to life in prison.
"If this is a worst category case – then it follows that a life sentence should be given," Mr Maxwell said.
Mr Maxwell said the pair's crime went beyond a killing, as they planned to sell 2.78 kilograms of the drug known as ice they had stolen from Mr Gao.
"It is not just for money, it is so they can obtain and then distribute the drug which has proven to be a scourge in our society.
"The Crown submits it is more serious than a straight out killing for payment of money," he said.
Rogerson, 75, ditched the camel-coloured sports coat he wore throughout the trial and opted to wear his prison greens. McNamara, 57, looked noticeably different, sporting a thick, white beard and a navy blue suit.
Mr Maxwell spoke about how the pair had used the knowledge they had learned as serving police officers to commit their crime.
"They have applied that cunning, that experience, that knowledge that they'd been given by society.... to enforce the law, to in fact cut right across it," he said.
McNamara's daughters Jessica and Lucy, who both gave evidence during the trial, were present at the NSW Supreme Court hearing which was held at the historic Darlinghurst court complex.
During Thursday's hearing, 11 character references were tendered on behalf of McNamara but none for Rogerson.
Lucy McNamara said the news of her father's arrest was a shock.
"While the week previous he had seemed different and distant, he has never been a violent man and has always vehemently hated drugs. The charges against him are the complete opposite of the man that raised me," she wrote in her reference.
McNamara's barrister Gabriel Wendler submitted that the death of Mr Gao was not premeditated.
"What it wreaks of is improvisation because a plan B had to come into operation after things got out of control," Mr Wendler said.
Rogerson's barrister George Thomas also said the killing was not planned, organised or professional.
"It was fairly random," Mr Thomas said.
Rogerson and McNamara were found guilty by a jury of killing Mr Gao as part of a joint criminal enterprise in May 2014.
Mr Gao was shot twice in the chest at Rent-A-Space at Padstow in Sydney's south west, before his body was stuffed into a silver surfboard bag and later dumped at sea.
Both offenders have blamed each other for the fatal shooting inside unit 803.
Rogerson and McNamara will be sentenced next Friday, September 2.
