Shannon Noll did not attend court in Adelaide on Friday. Picture: Supplied

The 41-year-old singer is accused of assaulting a bouncer after he was removed from the Crazy Horse Revue early on January 15.

Reporters waited outside Adelaide Magistrates Court for Noll to appear on Friday but he did not show.

“Mr Noll is not present,” defence lawyer Andrew Ey told the court. “Obviously he resides and works interstate. I ask your honour to excuse his non-attendance today.”

Magistrate Rodney Oates was obliging but said Noll must appear in person on the next occasion, a pre-trail conference in April.

“I will excuse his non-attendance today but he needs to be here next time,” Mr Oates said.

The news of Noll’s arrest captured Australia’s attention and sense of humour as witnesses spoke of the late-night scuffle on Hindley Street.

“He was saying, ‘I’m Shannon Noll. Let me back into the Crazy Horse’,” said 19-year-old Alastair Longmuir, who was outside the club on the night. Mr Longmuir said bystanders sang Noll’s hit song What About Me as the rocker was knocked to the ground and detained by security outside the club before police arrived.

His arrest came after he appeared at a music festival at Mannum, east of Adelaide.

Since then he has continued performing, including in Victoria and NSW as part of the Red Hot Summer Tour.

Noll was runner-up to a Guy Sebastian in the first season of Australian Idol in 2003 and he went on to become one of the show’s best-selling artists. Sebastian poked fun at Noll on social media after the incident, posing with an airport guard in Malaysia, pretending to be arrested.

“I’m Guy Sebastian, let me back into the Crazy Horse,” the singer’s Instagram photo caption read.

Noll showed his own sense of humour recently, posting a Facebook photo of himself behind bars at the Old Mt Gambier Gaol during a visit to South Australia’s southeast.