Commissioner Dyson Heydon QC took a moment to criticise Mr Shorten for the pace at which the hearing was proceeding, saying a lot of Mr Shorten's answers were "non-responsive".
"What you have been saying, in what I am calling non-responsive parts, may well be true, may well be relevant, [and] parts of it are very interesting," Mr Heydon told Mr Shorten.
"You, if I can be frank about it, have been criticised in the newspapers in the last few weeks and I think it is generally believed that you have come here in the hope that you will be able to rebut that criticism.
"I am not very troubled about that.
"What I am concerned about more is your credibility as a witness ... and perhaps your self-interest as a witness as well."
Mr Heydon encouraged Mr Shorten to curb some of his "extraneous" responses and try to answer questions directly.
"I do think some concentration on your part, on giving a proper answer, as full an answer as the question demands but no more than that, is in your interests and it's something [counsel assisting the inquiry Jeremy Stoljar] is entitled to," he said.
Labor frontbencher Brendan O'Connor criticised the commissioner's comments.
"It was a remarkable interjection, intervention, by the royal commissioner today to suggest that Mr Shorten should reduce his answers down to 'yes', 'no', or 'I don't recall'," Mr O'Connor said.
"He made some prejudicial comments about the appearance of Mr Shorten which I think calls into question the motives of the establishment of this royal commission.
"I've said all along this is a witch hunt."
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