Sir Martin Sorrell's libel case against two former colleagues was adjourned today to allow computer experts to discuss contentious technical evidence.

The judge in the case, Mr Justice Eady, allowed a break until tomorrow morning and indicated a further delay might be necessary.

But he turned down requests from Sir Martin's lawyers for an adjournment of up to four days, keeping the trial on course for completion by the end of next week.

Sir Martin's barrister, Desmond Browne, argued the evidence was so intricate that it had to be "unravelled in detail" by experts from both sides.

After hearing submissions from both sides for nearly two hours, the judge said he hoped that experts should be able to settle problems within 24 hours.

"It may be that I'm persuaded it might be necessary to have another adjournment," the judge said. "But to adjourn for three or four days would be disproportionate and hugely costly. We will see how various things develop but I'm not persuaded at the moment that things are as complicated as they may appear."

The case hinges on whether defamatory blogs about Sir Martin, the chief executive of WPP, and a "grossly offensive" image of him and a female colleague can be proved to be the work of two former colleagues, Marco Benatti and Mr Tinelli.

The two Italians deny any responsibility for the blogs and the image and seek to prove there is no electronic paper trail linking them to the offensive material.

The computer evidence that has caused today's delay relates to the precise times at which Mr Tinelli's laptop was used and the use of Firefox software.

The case continues.

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