Sydney have vehemently denied representatives of the club, apart from the five players banned for the remainder of the AFL season, were in the Melbourne hotel room at the centre of a police investigation into sexual assault claims.

The Swans released a strongly worded statement on Friday morning — scathing of allegations they say are “simply false” — denying any other players or staff members were present and also threatened to take legal action.

It came just an hour after coach Dean Cox and captain Callum Mills fronted a packed media conference outside the club’s headquarters.

The pair had refused to answer questions on the same matter, although Cox did say he was not in the room himself.

“The Sydney Swans can confirm that all investigations carried out by the club have consistently indicated that the only representatives of the club in the room central to the police investigation were the five players who have been stood down,” the statement read.

“We have every reason to consider that reports to the contrary are simply false.

“We are respecting the process with the relevant authorities and will refrain from commenting on police matters.

“We would also like to take this opportunity to condemn some of the misinformation being reported and are now considering our legal position on those matters.”

The Swans were hitting back at claims made by John Karantzis, the head of personal injury law and litigation at Carbone Lawyers, who said on Melbourne radio there may have been more than five club figures in the room at the time of the alleged assault.

Carbone Lawyers, which is acting for two of the women at the centre of the investigation, revealed earlier on Friday they were preparing to launch legal action against the club and players.

Vice-captain Isaac Heeney, Chad Warner, Riley Bice, James Jordon and Nick Blakey have been stood down by the club for breaching behavioural standards, separate to the police investigation into the events of Monday morning.

No charges have been laid, and this masthead is not suggesting the players are guilty of any wrongdoing, just that they are helping police with inquiries.

More claims emerged on Friday surrounding the details of the Swans’ early-morning party.

One report suggested the accused Swans players were alleged to have referenced Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s controversial “melons” comments about his Japanese counterpart.

Mr Karantzis on Friday said the behaviour that has been alleged is some of the worst he has heard and had the women fearing for their lives.

“With what has been alleged, these women were subjected to the most disgusting actions and behaviour I have ever heard about in my 28 years as a lawyer,” he said.

“These women already had a difficult job. And what they were subjected to, it is alleged, was demeaning, abhorrent and simply not moral or acceptable.

“The line was crossed, and unfortunately, what they’ve been subjected to... I literally cannot say it on the radio.

On Thursday, the ABC reported that several adult entertainers were understood to have attended the Pullman in the early hours of Monday morning and that police said a deal was made for players to pay extra to consume cocaine off the women’s breasts and buttocks.

The Herald Sun reported that the woman who alleged she was sexually assaulted said: “I don’t want money. All I care about is justice.

“I’m going to stand up for what is right. And I’m never going to let this happen to anyone else. Justice will be served.

“I care about women’s rights and what’s right, because this happens too often to women and they get away with it.”

While the circumstances inside the hotel room remain under investigation, the father of one of the women in the room revealed his daughter suffered an asthma attack during the incident that forced her to seek assistance from hotel staff.

“It was a lack of response to a medical episode that triggered the event,” he claimed.

“No assistance provided or care given. Subsequently, it evolved to what it’s evolved to. I think she was fine, and then something triggered it. I don’t know what triggered it.”

Mills said the five players who had been stood down “let the club down” and that the incident had made everyone take a look in the mirror.

“We believe that the five players have let us down, and we believe we’ll be doing everything we possibly can to regain the trust of the community,” he said.

“I fully support the sanctions handed down. This has caused us to put the mirror up to all men in society and inside the football club. Football is secondary at the moment.”

Mills also revealed he’d had “extremely hard” conversations with his teammates who had been stood down and quashed claims there was a rift in the playing group.

Sydney’s AFLW captain Lucy McEvoy also addressed media on Friday ahead of their historic SCG doubleheader with the men on Sunday, saying she wanted to be a part of any reintegration discussions for the five male players.

“We couldn’t have asked for more from Mills ... we’ve felt the support both internally and externally as well. We’re absolutely united, and the boys that have been here this week have been incredible, and it’s really united us as clubs,” McEvoy said.

“We’ve just been taking the emotions as they come day by day, but for the time being, the reintegration of those players has not been discussed, but we absolutely want to be a part of that discussion.”

Cox said he had also addressed the banned players, but said their focus was on rebuilding the club’s culture.

“It is unanimous the support for the sanctions. I’ve spoken to the players about their welfare, but as you can imagine, everyone at the football club has had different emotions, and they’ve gone through all of them,” he said.

“It’s been a really hard week for everyone involved in the football club.

“I’ve been at the football club for nine years and everyone inside those four walls we value highly, and we back ourselves in to repay the faith.”

It also emerged late on Thursday Heeney had posed for a photo with a young fan in the foyer of the Pullman Hotel on the morning of the alleged incident. The photo was timestamped 8.16am and Cox can be seen in the background speaking to a woman believed to be involved in the sexual assault allegations.

“My family have supported the Swans for generations, we have been die-hard Swans through and through,” the upset parent wrote on social media.

“I am so angry and incredibly disappointed. We were there that morning. We were in that reception area. None the wiser, until police showed up after we returned from breakfast.”

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028