Justin Matthew Lavers owned the vehicle, but it was driven mainly by his ex-partner.

But enraged that she had refused to let him back inside her Mount Street home, Lavers at first decided to inflict violence on the woman.

He tried to explain away the assault, after his arrest, by telling police: “I just roughed her up a bit.”

He also claimed that on covering his Nissan X-Trail with petrol from a jerry can he immediately changed his mind.

Police were not so convinced.

“Police have significant concerns for the safety of the victim,” magistrate Imad Abdul-Karim was told in Albury Local Court on Monday.

“There was serious potential for injury to the victim and their child if the act of setting it alight was carried out.”

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Lavers pleaded guilty to domestic violence-related charges of assault and stalk or intimidate.

Mr Abdul-Karim said Lavers’ claim he had come to his senses in not torching the vehicle did not detract from the grave nature of what he did.

He said he was troubled “by your behaviour”.

 Lavers, 27, armed with a cigarette lighter, poured petrol over the car and made his threat late on the morning of December 16.

That came after a full day of arguing between the pair, which ultimately led to her banning him from ever returning to her house.

Their 12-month relationship ended in early 2018, but it was on-again, off-again in the following months so he had continued to live at the address.

The arson threat followed an incident where Lavers slammed the driver’s door on the victim’s legs after unleashing a foul-mouthed demand for her to take her own car instead.

Mr Abdu-Karim ordered a sentence assessment report, though Lavers initially objected on the grounds he was too busy in his job driving trucks from Monday to Friday.

Lavers will be sentenced on April 1.