Metgasco managing director Peter Henderson has accused the NSW ­government of acting “unlawfully" and “unreasonably" when it suspended the company’s licence to drill at a site near Lismore earlier this year.

Mr Henderson was under ­cross-examination during Supreme Court hearings on Monday brought by Metgasco, which is challenging the ­government’s suspension of approval to drill a conventional and tight gas well at Bentley in the NSW Northern Rivers region in May.