"Please Darren, just say it was you, I don't want any tension around me," State witness Kevin Lerena recalled Pistorius as saying at the time.

Paralympian Oscar Pistorius asked a friend to take the blame for a gunshot he allegedly fired in a Johannesburg restaurant, the High Court in Pretoria heard on Wednesday.

"Please Darren, just say it was you, I don't want any tension around me," State witness Kevin Lerena recalled Pistorius as saying at the time.

Lerena, questioned by prosecutor Gerrie Nel, was referring to Darren Fresco, who was with Pistorius and himself at Tashas restaurant in Melrose Arch, in January 2013.

"I don't know for what reason, but a gun was passed under the table," Lerena said.

Fresco passed the gun to Pistorius, saying "I'm one up", said Lerena.

Questioned by Nel on what this phrase meant, Lerena said that there was one bullet in the chamber.

"A shot went off in the restaurant, then there was just complete silence.

"I looked down and where my foot was there was a hole in the floor. I wasn't hurt or injured but I had blood on my toe," said Lerena.

"I was in shock."

He said Pistorius then apologised and asked if everybody was okay.

Court adjourned for lunch early and will resume at 2pm.

The State will try to prove that Pistorius committed premeditated murder when he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp through the toilet door in his Pretoria home on February 14 last year.

In addition he is charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and recklessly discharging a firearm in public. Pistorius contends he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder when he shot through the toilet door.