And within moments, one of them ran down a flight of stairs to help after he failed to get up.

The two women, who were working at the Alexandria function centre at the time, told the Ballarat Magistrates Court yesterday they saw a physical altercation between two men in Police Lane in the early hours of May 10 last

year as they stood at the top of the stairs after taking the night's rubbish outside.

They told the committal hearing that the men were arguing and pushing each other in the Ballarat lane before one of them punched the other, causing him to fall and hit his head.

In a witness statement tendered to the court, Amy Collins said she heard a crack as one of the men hit the ground.

"I could clearly hear this from the landing. I was shocked by the sound of this. I didn't know what to do so I kept thinking he would get up slowly,'' Ms Collins said.

She told the court: "We thought he would get up but it was 30-40 seconds to a minute and he was still not getting up so Abbey went down to help''.

The other bar attendant, Abbey Fraser, told the court she heard and saw Mr Marshall's head hit the ground and described it as an "almighty thud'' in her statement tendered to the court.

"I said to Amy `I am going down' and I ran," Ms Fraser said.

Digby Gram, 20, was charged with manslaughter on May 18 over the death of Mr Marshall, 21, who died at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne six days after the alleged assault.

He was yesterday committed to stand trial at the Supreme Court after Magistrate Kay Robertson said there was sufficient evidence for the case to go to trial. He has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge.

Mr Marshall and a friend had approached Gram in Police Lane after seeing him lying on the ground and hitting his head against a pole.

Gram allegedly became aggressive towards them and as they backed away, Gram closed on Mr Marshall and punched him.

The court was earlier told Gram stood over Mr Marshall with his arm cocked like he was going to hit him again when a friend pleaded for him to leave him alone.

A medical practitioner told the court Mr Marshall was put in an induced coma and monitored, but his health deteriorated.

A post-mortem showed Mr Marshall's injuries included a 33mm sutured laceration in the back of the head, subdural hematoma and a fracture in the back of the head. His cause of death was head injury.

Gram, who was supported by family in court, was released on bail to appear at the Supreme Court in Melbourne for a directions hearing on March 31.