Liam Stanger, 38, is already in custody for another crime, but his lawyer conceded in the County Court on Tuesday that he would receive more time for lighting the bushfire after he pleaded guilty.

Crown prosecutor John Goetz said two fires were lit within a kilometre of a pine plantation, in an area of Towong Shire with a fuel hazard rated as "extreme", during the fire danger period on February 23 last year.

"Each fire had the potential to endanger the lives of people and livestock, cause damage to property, and cause damage to farming business," he said.

Stanger was visibly irritated during the court hearing when his age was incorrectly stated at 39 instead of 38.

"I just want to get this straight, I've been through enough," he said.

The Numurkah resident was driving to his father's house in Cooma when police caught him speeding along the Murray Valley Highway outside Tallangatta.

The officer let him go with a warning because it was low-level speeding, but noted Stanger was "angry and aggressive".

Stanger continued driving east before stopping at two nearby locations in the early afternoon to ignite fires with his cigarette lighter - a fire of .36 hectares of bushland near the Firebrace Track and another of .12ha near Trestle Bridge in Mount Lawson State Park.

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CFA and Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning firefighters plus water-bombing helicopters and bulldozers were needed to stop the blaze.

The operation lasted more than four hours after triple zero was called, costing DELWP $17,665 in its response.

There was also fire damage to fencing on a private property, with that cost put at $484.

Police tracked down Stanger after his car was seen on Koetong Hotel's CCTV camera and he was arrested in Shepparton in May.

He admitted lighting the fires.

"He stated that on the day in question he was in a bad mood prior to being stopped and warned," Mr Goetz said.

"He stated this added to his bad mood and occurred on a background of being repeatedly intercepted and spoken to by police."

Stanger admitted to police he drove up the tracks to avoid being seen by witnesses and saw smoke in his rearview mirror as he drove away, but claimed he believed there was a low risk of bushfire because it was not windy.

His solicitor Lauren Bull said he had grown up in rural areas.

"He is conscious of weather and of wind, and bushfire season is always front of mind for people who live in those areas," she said.

"While there was certainly the potential for them to get out of control, and certainly the fires did cover a fair bit of ground, there was some awareness of not wanting things to get bigger than they were."

She told the court Stanger suffered from ADHD, had low psychological and emotional maturity, and had been through drug and alcohol issues during his life, saying his mental state at the time contributed to the arson offence.

"He was quite unwell for a lot of last year," Ms Bull said.

"This type of offending is out of character for Mr Stanger - I'm referring to arson or fire-related offending and this offending that has the potential for large-scale harm."

Stanger does not have prior convictions for arson, but does have a history of violent offences.

Ms Bull said the coronavirus pandemic had added stress for those in custody during this time and her client had been unable to see his family.

She asked that the jail sentence to be imposed be kept to a minimum.

Judge Fran Dalziel will hand down her sentence at a later date.