The Bendigo Magistrates' Court heard Benjamin Nolan remotely accessed the victim's phone and tracked her movements, locked her out of her own device, and even refused offers of accommodation she had received while she was looking for somewhere to live.

The 29-year-old Huntly resident also sent the victim abusive text messages, including one in which he threatened to break her legs, and acted aggressively towards her, on one occasion hitting her hand with a torch after waking her in the night.

Nolan took $50 from the woman's wallet and her phone then threatened to post nude images of her online.

On one occasion he grabbed the woman's phone and damaged it by throwing it.

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The woman told police she believed Nolan's behaviour was escalating and he constantly tracked her through her phone.

Nolan admitted to police he had sent "disgusting and brutal" text messages to the victim and was aware of the intervention order.

He also said he accessed her phone through his and tracked her movements this way.

Nolan denied verbally abusing the victim face-to-face, although his father said he had witnessed this.

Nolan pleaded guilty on Wednesday to stalking, unlawful assault, persistent contravention of an intervention order, criminal damage, using methamphetamine and contravening a community corrections order in relation to the offending, which occurred this year.

Defence lawyer Nicholas Rolfe said Nolan's drug use escalated when work dried up at the end of last year and he became "paranoid" about the woman, which led to the stalking.

Mr Rolfe said his client had completed courses relating to men's behavioural change while in custody on remand, and was prepared to undertake such a course if released.

Nolan also had strong family support, he said.

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"The person who sits in Port Phillip today is not the same person who was arrested on the 25^th of April," Mr Rolfe said.

But Leading Senior Constable Alan Walker said Nolan had already been given a corrections order and had a prior offence for breaching an intervention order.

He said the offending was serious and jail was within range.

Magistrate Michael King adjourned sentencing to next week and ordered Nolan be assessed for a community corrections order.

But he said the violence Nolan was guilty of had a long-lasting impact on its victims and was an "insidious community problem", noting that the persistent and controlling nature of Nolan's offending had earlier led him to refuse bail.

He told Nolan that if the corrections order report was positive, he could expect to be sentenced to time already served in custody and another order.

But Dr King gave him a stern warning.

"If you do anything like this again... It will be an immediate and significant term of imprisonment," he said.

Nolan will be sentenced on June 13.

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