The defence counsel for Timothy Andrew Gunn, 31, described him as "one of the most universally disliked people in Tasmania" as a result of his actions, and that his isolation in a medi-hotel was a factor in his breaches of a family violence order.

He appeared in the Supreme Court in Hobart on Wednesday to appeal the five months' prison sentence - two months of which was suspended - on grounds it was "manifestly excessive".

Mr Gunn arrived in Tasmania after travelling from NSW and through Victoria on October 11, despite being rejected multiple times by Tasmanian authorities, then lied about his actions and left hotel quarantine.

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While in a medi-hotel in Hobart for two weeks after testing positive to COVID-19 in the community, Mr Gunn made 511 texts and phone calls to a woman who was the subject of a no-contact family violence order against him.

Defence counsel Pip Monk said a mitigating factor was the "isolation" Mr Gunn was feeling at this time due to the public attention on his case, in a state where he had few contacts, and that the complainant was "complicit".

"He really didn't have anyone in his corner at all except the complainant," she said.

"In that context that those phone calls occurred at a time when he was relatively isolated when he really didn't have anyone else to contact other than the complainant."

Ms Monk said the magistrate placed too much emphasis on prior offending, and that Mr Gunn only had a "reasonably limited" history of family violence offending.

He had been released from prison in NSW in the days prior to his travel to Tasmania.

Mr Gunn's COVID-19-related offences - including a failure to co-operate with contact tracers prompting the three-day lockdown - had occurred at an unfortunate time, Ms Monk said.

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"Any time from 15 December 2021, he would have been lawfully permitted to enter the state," she said.

But prosecutor Emily Bill pointed out that at the time, Tasmania had a far lower vaccination rate and the public was still concerned about the entry of COVID-19 into the state.

"These offences have to be considered in the context and at the time that they occurred, which is October 2021 ... at the time a case in the community was of extraordinary public concern," she said.

"Every person in this country had been affected by public health orders at some personal cost, and overwhelmingly everybody else abided by the law."

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His attempts to contact the family violence complainant were described as "overwhelming", and his offending was "pre-meditated", Ms Bill said.

"[It] indicates a disregard for the order of the court," she said.

Mr Gunn was sentenced on December 21 and remains in custody.

Justice Stephen Estcourt reserved his decision until either Monday or Tuesday next week.

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