Body-worn camera footage of Constable Zachary Rolfe two days before he allegedly murdered Aboriginal teenager Kumanjayi Walker shows him respectfully interacting with the Indigenous community.

Rolfe has pleaded not guilty to murdering the 19-year-old during a failed outback arrest in Yuendumu, 290km northwest of Alice Springs, on November 9, 2019.

The 30-year-old is accused of heavy handed tactics for shooting Mr Walker three times during a scuffle after the troubled teen stabbed him in the shoulder with scissors.

Video played to the Northern Territory Supreme Court shows Rolfe searching an Aboriginal community for Mr Walker with other officers two days earlier.

He is friendly and professional towards the residents, and shows respect as he asks questions about Mr Walker.

“Hello Missus, we are looking for a boy that sometimes comes to this house,” he says as he approaches a family.

“Have you seen anyone come back today? Do you know Arnold Walker, he is a Yuendumu boy.”

A woman standing with two men answers no before discussing her own sons’ whereabouts.

Rolfe then says police need to find Mr Walker before he gets himself into trouble.

The young constable is calm, unaggressive and patient as he talks to the community members.

The video also shows Rolfe returning to the house where police believe Mr Walker may have been. He astutely summarises the situation to peers, emerging as a leader among them.

The conversations happened on November 7, a day after Mr Walker violently threatened two police officers with an axe in Yuendumu after they cornered him in a bedroom during another failed arrest attempt.

Rolfe’s mate and colleague Constable Mitchell Hansen said watching body-worn camera footage of it made him feel sick.

“I felt fairly ill watching that footage,” he said.

“When I saw Walker raise an axe to my fellow police officers … I wholeheartedly believed (he) was about to kill or severely injure one or both of those members.”

Neither were injured and Mr Walker dropped the axe before fleeing the scene.

The trial continues on Tuesday.