Josef Fritzl today pleaded guilty to incest and to raping his daughter Elisabeth during the 24 years he kept her prisoner in the cellar under his house.

But as his trial began at the courthouse in St Pölten, Austria, he denied enslavement and he denied murdering one of the seven children he fathered by Elisabeth. He also denied grievous assault by threatening to gas his captives if they disobeyed him.

The 73-year-old engineer held a blue lever-arch file in front of his face, hiding his features in a pantomime of defiance or shame, as he shuffled into the courtroom escorted by six dark-clad police.

He refused to lower the file until the television cameras which were allowed into court for the first ten minutes of proceedings were expelled by Judge Andrea Humer, 48, who specialises in hearing sex crime cases. Only then did he lay the file on the desk in front of him and stare impassively ahead.

Amid extraordinary scenes he also declined to speak as the 95 journalists allowed into court for the start of the hearing shouted questions to him. Austrian television reporters thrust microphones towards him in vain.

Once the cameras were gone, he spoke in a weak voice to confirm his name and other details to the court.

Christiane Burkheiser, prosecuting, read out a 27 page indictment against Mr Fritzl, alleging that he did not so much as speak to 18-year-old Elisabeth during her first few years in captivity in the basement.

The state prosecutor also claimed that he raped her repeatedly in full view of the children, and that he once punished her by shutting off electricity to the dungeon.

"[The defendant] showed no sign of regret or any consciousness of wrongdoing," said Ms Burkheiser.

"Josef Fritzl treated his daughter as his property, he made her completely dependent. He decided what kind of food was brought into the dungeon. He decided when food was brought. And food was also often scarce."

She said that he had treated his daughter as a toy - an allegation linked to the enslavement charge, which Mr Fritzl denies - and described his alleged crimes as "inconceivable".

She is pressing for life imprisonment in an institution for the criminally insane.

Rudolf Mayer, defending, appealed to the jury to be objective and not swayed by emotions. He insisted Mr Fritzl was "not a monster".

Before the hearing he described his client as nervous. "He told me, ’I’m scared, Mr Mayer,"’ he said.

The media and the three members of the public allowed to watch the trial were due to be removed from the room while the court after Ms Burkheiser had read out the charges, so that the court could debate how much of the hearing would be held behind closed doors.

None of Mr Fritzl's alleged victims was present in court for the opening of the trial. They will remain in the sanctuary of a psychiatric clinic this week to escape the publicity surrounding the trial.

Mr Fritzl is accused of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years, locked in a windowless cellar, raping her on average three times a week, fathering seven children by her and allowing one of them to die by failing to seek medical treatment when it suffered breathing difficulties at three days old.

Mr Fritzl is expected to argue in court that he was in some respects a good father to the children whom he entombed in his specially constructed bunker.

The trial ranks as one of the most extraordinary in modern Austrian history, overshadowing even the case of Natasha Kampusch, the schoolgirl who was held for more than eight years in an underground dungeon in a dormitory suburb of Vienna.

Tomorrow, on the second day of the trial, an eight-member jury will hear taped evidence from Elisabeth detailing her ordeal. The 11 hours of evidence was recorded last July so she would not have to see her father in court.

A verdict is expected by Friday.

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