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Jailed former NRL star Jarryd Hayne is due to find out the outcome of his appeal against his sexual assault convictions.

The 33-year-old was found guilty of two charges of sexual assault without consent of a woman in her NSW Hunter bedroom on the night of the 2018 NRL grand final.

The ex-Parramatta player faced a retrial after his first ended with a hung jury.

He was jailed in May for five years and nine months with a non-parole period of three years and eight months.

The NSW Court of Criminal Appeal heard his conviction challenge in November, when Hayne's lawyers argued for an acquittal or a third trial.

His barrister Tim Game SC put forward four appeal grounds including contending the jury was given "profoundly wrong" legal directions.

Justice Helen Syme's directions of law were "flawed in almost every possible way", he argued.

While prosecutor Brett Hatfield admitted the language could have been tighter, he said "perfection is not required".

Another ground was the overruling of evidence admitted into the first trial, which Mr Game said explained the complainant's state of mind in her "abiding interest in having sex with Jarryd Hayne".

He also disputed a "highly prejudicial" outburst from the woman in the first trial when she yelled "no means no" under cross-examination, played before his second jury and likely to bring about a "very sympathetic response".

But the Crown argued the woman appeared very deflated and flat directly after this exchange, and her monotone responses would be incongruent without viewing the preceding moments.

Both trials were told Hayne had left his friend's bucks party to meet up with the woman and forcibly performed oral and digital sexual intercourse on her.

"I do not accept the offender did not know or did not hear the victim telling him she did not want to have sex with him," Judge Syme said.

Chief Justice Tom Bathurst and Justices Helen Wilson and Ian Harrison are due to hand down their decision on Monday.

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The prime minister's wife says Scott Morrison is wrongly perceived as lacking empathy when he is actually focused and task-orientated, in a character defence of her husband in the lead-up to the federal election.

Mr Morrison's personal standing has taken a hit in recent months, and Labor has repeatedly raised questions about his honesty and integrity. A series of polls shows the governing Liberal-led coalition is trailing Labor ahead of the election due by late May.

"He's all about problem-solving so that can come across sometimes as serious, uncaring or lacking empathy," Jenny Morrison told Nine's 60 Minutes in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

"But it isn't that at all - it's seriously focused and task-orientated."

Asked about his own perceived lack of empathy in response to the human cost of the COVID-19 pandemic, the prime minister said he bleeds "like everybody else".

"I do it privately, and I do it quietly and I do it in the arms of my wife and family," Mr Morrison said.

It has been a bruising period for the government which last week opted not to proceed with debate on the religious discrimination bill in the Senate due to a lack of support, making it unlikely the Liberals can fulfil an election promise to enact such laws.

Child sexual abuse survivor and former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has also been a vocal critic of the government's handling of women's safety issues.

Mr Morrison endured an awkward encounter with Ms Tame at a morning tea at The Lodge in January when she stood stony-faced during a photograph and appeared reluctant to shake his hand.

While Mr Morrison has previously brushed off the encounter, his wife said in the Nine interview that she wanted her own daughters to be respectful.

"I want my daughters to grow up to be fierce, strong, independent, amazing people. I think they can still do that and show kindness to other people and be polite and have manners," she said.

Winning support from female voters will be crucial to Mr Morrison's re-election ambitions. A Newspoll published online by The Australian on Sunday shows the Liberal-led coalition's primary vote remains on a post-election record low of 34 per cent.

The "underdog" status claimed by Mr Morrison ahead of the 2022 election is not a new situation for the 53-year-old.

Ahead of the 2019 election, Mr Morrison's government was behind in the polls after a messy leadership change. He promptly secured an election victory which he described as a "miracle".

He said in the interview that doubters had been wrong before and "of course" he could win again.

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Labor appears set for a historic by-election win in the NSW seat of Bega, while the Liberals have suffered a swing against them in former premier Gladys Berejiklian's seat of Willoughby.

A predicted Labor victory would be its first in Bega, held by the Liberals since its reintroduction in 1988 and occupied by retiring member Andrew Constance since 2003.

Opposition Leader Chris Minns previously said the seat would be "almost impossible" for his party to win, but early tallies in the south coast electorate on Saturday night gave a swing of more than 14 per cent to Labor's Michael Holland over Liberal Fiona Kotvojs.

Dr Holland said on Sunday the "huge swing" was "totally unexpected" but "the result really gives a reflection of the community's response to the current Liberal government".

He will seek to "sort out health services on the far south coast" of NSW, as well as regional and rural health services in general, and focus on rebuilding bushfire-hit communities in the Bega electorate.

"That's what the people in the electorate here really want ... long term policies of things we can't solve in the next 13 months, but we will solve when elected at the next general election," Dr Holland says.

Premier Dominic Perrottet said on Sunday the government will reflect and learn from "some disappointing results across the board".

By-elections are notoriously hard for governments but Bega's result was "particularly disappointing", Mr Perrottet said.

With votes from just under a third of the electorate counted as of 10.45pm on Saturday, Dr Holland had received 57.1 per cent of two-candidate preferred votes, compared to Ms Kotvojs' 42.9 per cent, according to the NSW Electoral Commission.

The Liberals went into the by-election with a margin of 6.9 per cent.

A likely loss in Bega will push the government further into minority and force it to rely more heavily on the votes of independent or minor party MPs.

Jason Yat-Sen Li looks set to retain Strathfield for Labor, leading Liberal candidate Bridget Sakr 54.4 per cent to 45.6 per cent with about 37 per cent of the electorate's votes counted.

Mr Perrottet insisted Labor's vote had gone backwards in the electorate and vowed Ms Sakr would win the election next year.

Mr Minns says the electorate is always difficult but Mr Li fought hard to retain it, despite Independent Elizabeth Farrelly taking "a lot of the votes, particularly in those Labor booths".

The Nationals are on track to hold former deputy premier John Barilaro's seat of Monaro despite a swing of more than six per cent.

With about 44 per cent of the vote counted, Nichole Overall led Labor's Bryce Wilson 55 per cent to 45 per cent.

Two-candidate preferred results for Willoughby, which Labor did not contest, are not yet available.

Liberal Tim James has so far secured about 43.4 per cent of first preference votes, trailed by Independent Larissa Penn on 32.1 per cent, with just over 40 per cent of the blue-ribbon electorate's votes counted.

The by-elections were viewed as a test for the premier and his government's handling of the state's Omicron wave.

The stakes were also high for Mr Minns, who has pitched himself as the man to make Labor a real election chance after more than a decade in opposition.

Mr Minns said voters had sent the premier a message on Saturday that the government needs to change direction.

Counting will resume on Monday, and postal votes will be counted from next weekend, with final results not expected until later this month.

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