Underworld figure Love Machine 'architect'

Slain Melbourne underworld figure Nabil Maghnie likely ordered his son to fire bullets at the Love Machine nightclub, exploiting his desire to become part of the crime family, a court has heard.

Jacob Elliott's lawyer said he was young and keen to impress his father when he followed Mr Maghnie's instructions to exact revenge on the Prahran club by firing four shots from a car on April 14, 2019.

Patron Richard Arow, 28, and security guard Aaron Osmani, 37, died and three people were injured in the 3am shooting outside the club.

Elliott, then aged 18, and the car's driver, Allan Fares, were found guilty of murder and attempted murder by a jury in April.

They drove to the club in a stolen Porsche after Elliott's younger half-brother Ali Maghnie was ejected for poor behaviour, speaking to his father and then Elliott after the incident.

Elliott and Fares faced the second day of a pre-sentence hearing on Thursday, along with Moussa Hamka who was found guilty of assisting the men.

"It's more likely than not that it was Nabil Maghnie who designed the retributive attack," Elliott's barrister Julie Condon QC told the Supreme Court.

"You've got a career criminal who has a son who's been on the margins ... he's got a desperate need for acceptance, he's got a misguided sense of loyalty to Mr Maghnie.

"You cannot remove or exclude or divorce the role of Nabil Maghnie being front and centre in the circumstances under which this event came about."

She said the jury's verdict did not resolve whether Elliott was instructed by his father or if Mr Maghnie was "the ultimate architect" of the shooting.

While there was no direct evidence of communication between Elliott and his father in the hours before the attack, she said Mr Maghnie had communicated with him that evening using an encrypted phone.

Prosecutors earlier said Elliott and Fares should be handed the maximum sentence for murder, life in prison, for shooting at defenceless victims.

But Ms Condon argued Elliott, now aged 21, deserved a shorter sentence as he felt pressured to act due to his father's influence and his young age.

Justice Andrew Tinney said it was possible Elliott and Fares devised the plan themselves. He said Elliott showed a "complete and utter disregard" for welfare of the victims and those around them when he opened fire.

Nabil Maghnie was shot dead in Melbourne's north in January 2020.

Elliott did not meet his father's side of the family until he was 10, after being raised by his single mother.

He moved in with his father at age 15 and quickly became immersed into a fast-paced lifestyle of money, cars and expensive clothing, his maternal aunt Kerri Jean Jergens told the court.

"I feel truthfully he kind of took on his father's persona," she said. "He kind of turned more to wanting to be so accepted by them, the Maghnies."

Fay Maghnie said Elliot may have been intimidated by her brother and at one point they stopped speaking for a year after Mr Maghnie hit him.

"You put a 15-year-old boy with a man that has a lot of power, that has a lot of authority, that has a lot of respect, and Jacob didn't know how to deal with with it," she said.

The plea hearing continues on Friday.