Philip Nagle, who was abused by disgraced Christian Brother Stephen Farrell, said he arrived to join a big queue outside the Melbourne Magistrates Court in the CBD about 8.30am.

“I’d never seen so much media in the one spot, even more than when we went to Rome last year,” he said.

“There must have been at least 80 of them, including Reuters and Al Jazeera.”

It was then Cardinal Pell, along with his barrister Robert Richter, QC, and defence lawyer Paul Galbally, were shuffled into the courtroom with help from a group of police officers through a big media scrum.

Amid the chaos Mr Nagle was eventually allowed into the courtroom, taking a seat close to the front.

"There was 40 seats available and I was number 37," he said.

“I was going to give my seat to fellow campaigner Chrissie Foster, but she made it in.” Once inside, Mr Nagle said the atmosphere inside the courtroom was surreal.

“It was very quiet, nobody said anything,” he said.

“Everybody was looking at Cardinal Pell to see his reaction or interactions.

“He was fidgeting and looked uncomfortable, which I thought was the opposite of what he seemed in Rome, where he was aloof.”

Mr Nagle said the courtroom was mostly made up of journalists and court artists, who were sketching Cardinal Pell.

“As a survivor, I know what the court process is like,” Mr Nagle said. 

“I’m representing my fellow survivors and classmates who are not with us anymore.​”