The Gold Coast woman took her own life in 2014 but did not want to, her best friend says.

Graham Robert Morant, 69, is on trial for aiding and counselling his wife to commit suicide as he stood beneficiary to her $1.4 million life insurance.

Morant told his wife he wanted to use the money to quit work and build a religious commune as a haven from the biblical rapture where he would be pastor, the prosecution has alleged.

Morant allegedly kept up his efforts convincing her to take her life for months until she did so in November 2014.

"(She said) I'm afraid and I really don't want to do it," Ms Morant's friend Johanna Cornelia Dent testified in Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday.

"But I made so many promises to everybody that the only way out would be to win lotto.

"I pray to God that I win because it's my only way out."

Morant's alleged attempts to encourage her to take her life included him allegedly saying she was too weak to survive the "imminent" rapture and it would not be a sin in God's eyes because the insurance payout would help their church.

Ms Morant, who suffered chronic back pain, initially intended to fly to Peru to end her life but did not believe she could cope with the travel time, the court heard.

"(She said) I said to Graham, I can't do that and if you want me to take my life, I'll have to do it here and you will have to help me," Ms Dent said.

"Graham said to her, 'yes, and I know a way that won't cause you any pain'."

Morant claimed he found a suicide note after coming home one night in November 2014 which explained his wife's death was her choice.

Ms Dent said Ms Morant stayed with her the week before she died and when she returned home, she had a "deal with Graham" to end her life.

"If I hadn't come down here to see you, I would have already been dead," Ms Morant allegedly said.

When Ms Dent asked her how she would do it, she claims she responded: "Don't worry, darling. I won't feel any pain. Graham says he knows a way I can do it."

Under cross-examination, Ms Dent said she did not call the police about Morant because Jennifer eventually told her she would not go through with it.

The trial continues.

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Australian Associated Press