Jamal Dundas refused bail over shooting, break-in and wild police pursuit across Lake Macquarie

Then - half-an-hour later - there was the attempted break-in at Redhead Surf Club that was unceremoniously cut short when one of the three intruders suffered a deep gash to his leg.

Then - after the other two had dumped their mate at hospital - there was the wild pursuit from Windale to Merewether, featuring an appearance from the police helicopter PolAir, before the alleged driver jammed the car into a gutter, jumped into the surf and began swimming out to sea.

It was late on a night in the middle of winter and the man quickly returned to shore and was arrested.

The wild crime spree - the shooting, the break-in and the pursuit - are linked by one car, police allege, an Audi hatchback that was stolen from a car park at Ourimbah a week earlier.

And the case against Jamal Dundas, who police allege was the passenger in the Audi and threw a weapon out of the speeding car, is wholly circumstantial, Newcastle Local Court heard.

During an application for Mr Dundas to be released on conditional bail, Magistrate Robert Stone was told there was nothing to identify the 19-year-old being at the scene of the shooting or the break-in.

But DPP solicitor Julie Gomez said Mr Dundas was spotted in CCTV at the break-in wearing the same clothes that he was later arrested in at Merewether.

"This accused was arrested at the end of the night in the same car with the same firearm that shot into the house at the beginning of that night," Ms Gomez said.

Ms Gomez said the prosecution case against Mr Dundas for possession of the .22 calibre rifle and for being a passenger in a stolen car was strong and he was likely to spend a considerable amount of time in jail if convicted.

The court heard Mr Dundas had already applied for bail a few days after his arrest in May, but there had been an error detailing the length of the intensive corrections order he was serving at the time of the crime spree.

Mr Stone accepted that error represented a material change in circumstances and heard the bail application, but ultimately found the prosecution case, while circumstantial, was strong and said despite the delay there was too many unacceptable risks in releasing Mr Dundas.

Mr Dundas, the alleged driver of the Audi, Zane Jordan, and the man who police say injured his leg in the break-in, Jack Kennedy, will return to court in January.