Geoffrey Rush attends defamation mediation

The virtually housebound actor Geoffrey Rush has ventured into Sydney's Federal Court to attend mediation related to his defamation case against the Daily Telegraph.

The actor was snapped entering and leaving the court on Wednesday, as was journalist Jonathon Moran.

The 66-year-old Oscar winner is suing the tabloid's publisher Nationwide News and Moran for defamation over articles alleging he behaved inappropriately towards a female colleague during a Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear in 2015.

Rush has rejected the allegations.

The Telegraph denies the articles made Rush out to be a pervert and a predator, arguing no allegations of a sexual nature were made.

In an affidavit tendered in the court in April, Rush's solicitor Nicholas Pullen said the actor was virtually housebound, barely eats and wakes each morning with a "terrible sense of dread" since the publication.

When Rush does venture out in public he feels anxious as he believes people are staring at him in a challenging, frightening and unnerving way, the affidavit says.

In April, Justice Michael Wigney listed the defamation hearing for September 3.

He also referred the case to mediation before a registrar of the court, ordering it to occur before July 31.