Mr Bravos had been on trial after pleading not guilty to two counts of rape in relation to the alleged incident after a night out in November 2004.

On Friday, a Supreme Court jury acquitted the 53-year-old in relation to both counts.

Mr Bravos made a short statement as he left the court, describing the case against him as a "horrendous ordeal".

But he said he "always had faith in the jury system".

At the opening of his trial last month, the court was told that the alleged offences occurred after a ball in Darwin for emergency services workers.

A group of police including Mr Bravos and the alleged victim continued partying before they were refused entry to the Darwin casino.

She lived some distance away in a rural area and Mr Bravos invited her back to his Darwin house to stay the night, where she found his wife and children not home as they had gone away, crown prosecutor Nick Papas QC told the court.

The pair continued drinking alcohol and swam in the pool but when "Bravos made advances towards her she rebuffed him", he said.

It was alleged the sexual incidents came later after the woman went to sleep alone in spare room and woke to find Mr Bravos naked next to her.

"The criminal code in the Northern Territory states that when a person is asleep, unconscious or so affected by alcohol as to be incapable of freely agreeing ... they do not consent to sexual intercourse," Mr Papas said.

But the defence contended that the sex was consensual.

Defence lawyer John Lawrence SC said the evidence against Mr Bravos was "based on a classic gossip, hearsay, tittle-tattle rumour mill" that developed over the intervening years since the incident.

He suggested the alleged victim might have been used as a pawn by senior police who had wanted to damage Mr Bravos and become assistant commissioners themselves.

Australian Associated Press