After arriving in Auckland she was matched with her accused killer on the dating app Tinder.
The Crown alleges that on the night of December 1 he strangled Millane to death in his central city apartment after the pair spent the night drinking.
"I'm on a date with a guy who is a manager of an oil company," Millane messaged her best friend Ameena Ashcroft on Facebook, whom she had met while studying at Lincoln University in the UK.
In a statement read to the court yesterday, however, Ashcroft recalled feeling "a bit concerned" and that "something seemed out of place".
In a series of further messages to Ashcroft, Millane said: "Cocktails all round" and "he was like 'it's [my] birthday tomorrow, we are getting smashed'."
Ashcroft thought the messages were odd and that the man Millane was on a date with was doing "a weird thing ... with someone you don't really know".
"I click with him so well," Millane said. "I will let you know what happens tomorrow."
CCTV footage also showed Millane and the accused, whose name is suppressed, at several bars and restaurants in central Auckland on a rainy night.
Police had retrieved several days' worth of images and video in their bid to trace Millane's last hours.
After drinking at Andy's Burger Bar at SkyCity and the Mexican Cafe on Victoria St West, the pair made their way to the Bluestone Room - a pub just metres from the CityLife apartment where the accused lived and Millane died.
While there, the accused and Millane ordered several more drinks - with tequila seemingly the alcohol of choice for the night.
Grace Millane's body was found in a suitcase in a shallow grave in Auckland's Waitakere Ranges. Photo / Supplied
By 9.10pm the pair appear to be comfortable in each other's company and they kiss several times.
But when Millane then leaves the table at 9.20pm - possibly to use the bathroom - the accused can be seen on video pausing before rummaging through her handbag.
He puts it back in a different place than where it was left - on the stool rather than the table - but Millane doesn't notice when she returns.
At 9.40pm the pair leave the pub and make the short walk to the CityLife hotel.
The accused has his arm around Millane's shoulders and the pair enter the hotel lift, destined for the third floor.
It is the last image police have recovered of Millane alive.
What happened next is for the jury to decide, but at 1.29am on December 2 there was a spike in internet activity on the accused's cellphone.
Detective Samuel Luker, who was responsible for investigating the accused's apartment on December 7 after Millane was declared missing, recalled what he found in the room.
He was careful upon entry, not knowing who might be in the apartment.
"Who did you think might possibly be there?" prosecutor Robin McCoubrey asked the witness yesterday.
It was at this moment during the evidence that Millane's mum, Gillian Millane, left the courtroom in tears.
She would return later.
Further internet searches later in the morning included "car hire Auckland", "time in London", "large sports bags", "rigor mortis", "flesh-eating birds" and "are there vultures in New Zealand?"
Luker said luminol tests were also conducted in the apartment and he observed a "blue glow emitting" just under the window and at the base of the bed.
Another luminol result showed a large circle between the wall and wardrobe.
Under the kitchen sink of the apartment police also found several heavy-duty cleaning products.
Dianne Crenfeldt, an expert forensic scientist from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research, told the court she found what was "probable blood" in the accused's apartment.
She will continue giving evidence when the trial continues today.
