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A woman who killed her husband gave "an Academy Award-winning performance" if a video she recorded was part of a plan to get away with murder, her barrister says.

Dale Vella, 54, shot her husband Mark Anthony Vella as he slept at their Murrumbateman home in the New South Wales southern tablelands in August 2021.

"Yes, she took the life of her children's father. Was it murder? That's the decision you have to make," defence barrister Greg Hoare told the NSW Supreme Court jury on Thursday.

READ MORE: WA town plunged into darkness amid rare total solar eclipse

Her husband's friend told the trial Vella said: "I was going to shoot myself, but I shot him" as she asked him to call an ambulance.

Vella told the court she didn't know what happened in the time between just before she shot her husband in the eye and her arrest later that night.

She does not dispute doing it.

Her guilty plea to manslaughter was rejected by the Crown and she has pleaded not guilty to murder.

On the day she killed her husband, Vella recorded a video on her phone.

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"I'm sorry guys, I just can't live like this anymore," Vella said.

"I've let him abuse you emotionally for years, and I've never protected you.

"I'm sorry I left everything in such a mess … I've tried leaving, I've tried pushing him away. He doesn't care about anyone but himself."

Hoare referred to the video as a suicide note.

"If that is a deception, that is an Academy Award-winning performance," he said.

Vella would have to prove it was more likely than not her capacity to understand, control or judge her actions were substantially affected by a mental health impairment when she shot her husband, or be found guilty of murder, Justice Helen Wilson instructed the jury on Thursday.

Crown prosecutor Kate Ratcliffe earlier said Vella was not impaired to the point it warranted reduction to manslaughter, inviting the jury to find her guilty of murder.

She quoted what Vella said after the shooting.

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"'He can't hurt us anymore,' that's what (she) told her daughter," Ratcliffe said, describing it as a "deliberate shooting".

"She shot him at that moment because she wanted to kill him."

Hoare submitted Vella was not attempting to escape responsibility, telling the jury to find her guilty of manslaughter instead.

"Before this trial even started, she accepts she killed her husband, she accepts it was legally wrong and that, to put it bluntly, she needs to pay the price," he said.

He told the jury to examine what Vella told her daughter after the shooting closely.

"Did she really understand what she'd done or was this just a statement of the bleeding obvious from a woman deeply, deeply depressed?"

Attempts to prove Vella decided, "in the clear, cold light of day", to murder her legally-blind husband because she'd had enough of caring for him after 23 years might show the jury the opposite, Hoare said.

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"She continued for years to look after this man … to care for him despite his ongoing abuse of her," Hoare said.

Ratcliffe reminded the jury Vella's deceased husband is not the one on trial.

She suggested her evidence about their relationship was "an exaggerated and untrue account about her husband's conduct towards her".

"This wasn't a mistake, it wasn't a suicide gone horribly wrong," Ratcliffe said.

The jury will retire to consider a verdict on Friday following final instructions from Wilson.

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Eclipse hunters were overcome with emotion as the small Western Australian town of Exmouth was plunged into darkness during a rare total solar eclipse.

More than 20,000 people cheered as moon covered the sun for the 62-second event at 11.29am, while others shed a few tears.

Preparation for the celestial show has been years in the making for the community of just under 3000 people.

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Temperatures dropped by 3.4 degrees at Carnarvon Airport between 10.23am and 11.30am local time, according to Weatherzone.

While the view from earth was limited to a thin sliver of land and ocean, the Himawari-9 satellite 36,000km above the earth's surface, captured a remarkable view of the event.

The image shows a shadow of the moon passing across the earth's surface, moving over the Indian Ocean before skimming WA and continuing towards Indonesia and the Timor Sea.

The rare celestial show was visible in other parts of the country.

Total silence before eclipse

Exmouth fell silent as the rare total eclipse plunged the community into darkness before crowds erupted into applause.

Rick Tonnello from the Gravity Space Centre spoke to 9News in the lead-up to totality.

"Oh my gosh, that's just gone really dark," Tonnello said.

"We have such little time, just take it all in – the sunset and the planets.

"That's the most incredible thing I've ever seen.

"That's absolutely stunning, I'm lost for words."

https://twitter.com/Tracy_Vo/status/1648892359428689920

As the moon shifted away from the sun and light returned to the town, many residents were overcome by the emotion of the event.

"We seem to have lost something in the modern day technologies that to go out there and simply look at the night sky or look at a celestial phenomenon like this really stirs something deep in the human psyche," Tonnello said.

"It just puts us more back in touch with the universe in which we live.

"I didn't think I'd get emotional but I did."

9News weather presenter Scherri-Lee Biggs was overcome with emotion as she crossed live from the town.

"The atmosphere has been just electric down here," she said.

"I didn't think I'd get emotional but I'm wiping away tears."

WA Chief Scientist Peter Klinken said the total eclipse was a significant event for the state.

"They're rare events, they're very special," Klinken said.

"Over the next 20 years there's going to 13 total eclipses of which four will be in WA."

Eclipse-hunter Lesley Bound travelled from the United Kingdom to have a front-and-centre view of the eclipse.

"We couldn't have better weather, so I'm very excited," Bound said.

"It's been amazing. It's my first trip to Australia and I love it.

"I fell in love with Perth and I'll definitely be back."

Eclipse events hold a special place in the hearts of couple Chris and Louise, who travelled from the Netherlands for the celestial show.

Chris proposed to Louise during the last eclipse in Argentina several years ago.

"It was straight after the second diamond ring. He said, 'I can't promise you a diamond ring as big as that but will you marry me?'" Louise said.

Years in the making

Exmouth Shire Council President Darlene Allston said years of planning had gone in to prepare the region for the influx of visitors.

An observation platform was erected and today special purpose solar eclipse glasses were handed out to eclipse gazers.

"We have done all we can do to sort of deliver the safe event for all of the people that have travelled here today," Allston said.

"So it is going to be busy here and certainly all eyes I suppose will be on Exmouth for that 62 seconds of darkness today."

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Science commentator Dr Karl Kruszelnicki said Australians were "lucky" to witness the event.

"It is actually a hybrid eclipse," he explained.

"So for part of the eclipse it will be a total eclipse.

"For part of it, it will be a ring, depending where you are.

"It is lovely to see the fingernail moon. The universe is giving us something for free.

"We are lucky."

Kruszelnicki added that staring directly at the sun is not recommended as even a brief glimpse can cause eye damage.

"If you can see any of the actual sun surface, turn away," he said. 

"Do not look at it with the naked eye."

Instead, eclipse gazers were urged to use special-purpose "eclipse glasses" or hand-held solar viewers that meet international standards.

Alternatively, a pinhole projection through a large card also gave a sense of the spectacle.

This type of viewer can be easily made at home.

When did the eclipse start?

That all depended on your location.

In Exmouth, the partial eclipse started at 10.04am (AWST) with totality – when the sun was blocked by the moon – coming at 11.29am and lasting 62 seconds.

Perth: 10am

Darwin: 12.17pm

Adelaide: 12.30pm

Melbourne: 1.15pm 

Hobart: 1.24pm 

Canberra: 1.29pm

Sydney: 1.36pm

Brisbane: 1.43pm 

When will the next eclipse occur?

The total eclipse today is one of two eclipses to occur in 2023, but it's the only one to be visible in Australia. 

On October 14 an annular ("ring") eclipse will sweep across western and southern US, Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, Central America, southern Colombia and northern Brazil.

The next total solar eclipse to be observed in Australia will be on July 22, 2028, which will cross from the Kimberley to Sydney. 

The last total solar eclipse occurred in 2012 and plunged Cairns into darkness, while WA's last total solar eclipse was in 1974.

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Anzac Day is not far away, and in some states that means double demerits will come into effect in an attempt to ward off unsafe driving around the public holiday.

However, not all jurisdictions in Australia have the same approach to double demerits; many areas never introduce them for public holidays, while one state that usually does won't have them in place on April 25.

Here's everything you need to know about double demerits this Anzac Day.

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New South Wales and ACT

NSW introduced double demerits for public holidays back in 1997, and the scheme will be in effect for five days for Anzac Day.

Double demerits in NSW and the ACT run from 12.01am on Friday, April 21, until midnight on Tuesday, April 25, the extended period targeting people who take the Monday off to give themselves a long weekend.

All traffic offences in NSW will incur double the usual demerit points, but the ACT is slightly different – most offences like speeding and drink driving cop the double penalty, but some comparatively minor ones, like failing to keep left, just attract a single extra point instead.

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Western Australia

Western Australia, like the ACT and NSW, usually has double demerits in place for public holidays.

However, for Anzac Day this year, they don't apply.

They will, however, be back in place for public holidays later in the year, including the King's Birthday and Christmas.

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Queensland

Queensland approaches double demerits quite differently to NSW, WA, and the ACT.

Rather than having them in place for all drivers around public holidays, the Sunshine State instead has them in effect year-round, but only for drivers who commit the same offence twice in the space of 12 months.

This applies for speeding more than 20km/h over the limit, as well as mobile phone, seatbelt and motorcycle helmet offences.

Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory

None of Victoria, SA, Tasmania and the NT employ double demerits as part of their road safety strategies.

That means penalties for driving offences committed around Anzac Day in those jurisdictions will be the same as for those committed at any other time of the year.

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