However after three days of deliberation, a second jury of seven men and five women found the 33-year-old guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse without consent.
He was found not guilty of the more serious charges of aggravated sexual intercourse without consent, recklessly inflicting actual bodily harm.
Hayne had pleaded not guilty but the jury accepted the evidence of the then 26-year-old woman who said she did not consent to the ex-NFL convert performing oral and digital sex on her in her bedroom on NRL grand final night in September 2018.
She was left with two lacerations on her vagina that bled profusely.
Hayne insisted her injuries were an accident and apologised.
During her evidence, which was replayed from Hayne's first trial, the woman said she refused to consent to sex because the ex-Parramatta fullback had a taxi waiting outside.
Soon after he had left, the woman sent him a string of text messages saying "I am hurting so much" and "I know I've talked about sex and stuff so much but I didn't want to do that after knowing the taxi was waiting for you".
Mr Hayne replied: "Go doctor tomorrow."
She recorded a short video, showing the blood covering her bed, doona and pillows, which she sent to a friend.
The video, which was played to the jury, shows blood at the head of the bed, which backed up the woman's account that she began inching up the bed when he began performing the sexual acts on her.
Hayne had been in Newcastle for a two-day buck's party and had organised to pay a cab driver $550 to take him back to Sydney, where he was required to attend an event at Alexandria at midnight.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said when she heard the taxi beeping outside her bedroom window she resolved there was "no way" she was going to consent to sex.
"Like my heart dropped because I felt like he had only come there for one thing," she said in her testimony.
"I felt saddened because I felt like he must have only seen me in one type of way."
She also messaged a friend saying he was "rough" and that he "ended up getting his hand down there".
"I just feel like I let it happen to myself by not screaming at him," she said.
He said he went into the woman's bedroom and lay on her bed where he attempted to "break the ice" by singing along to some of his "go-to" songs on YouTube, including an Ed Sheeran cover of Oasis's Wonderwall.
According to the woman, he forcibly kissed her and pushed her head into the pillow.
The woman did not immediately go to police, and an investigation only began when her brother-in-law phoned Channel 9 journalist Danny Weidler, who advised the family to contact the NRL integrity unit.
When Hayne learned of the woman's complaint, he was heard in police phone taps speaking to former NSW teammate Mitchell Pearce on the phone.
On the phone calls, Hayne is heard telling the Newcastle Knights halfback: "You know what, ask your boys ... there's a couple of your boys might know her, bro."
Hayne described his victim as a "full blown weirdo" and that she "was filthy" because the taxi was out the front of her house.
Of the victim, he also said: "Oh mate, I'll get her for defamation, easy."
Hayne barely reacted as the verdict was read out by the jury in March, nodding twice and then looking over at a group of supporters.
Where to get help:
• If it's an emergency and you feel that you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
• If you've ever experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone call the confidential crisis helpline Safe to Talk on: 0800 044 334 or text 4334.
• Alternatively contact your local police station
• If you have been abused, remember it's not your fault.
