Catalano appeared at Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Friday with a three-person legal team, including new barrister Dermot Dann, KC, after a meeting in the barrister's chambers.
Dann told magistrate Donna Bakos that his client had not "shut the door" on a possible plea deal, but the matter remained unresolved and there was potential for charges to be withdrawn at the request of the complainant.
"It's an unusually delicate ... situation. We have a complainant who doesn't want the changes to proceed in any way shape or form," Dann said. "Bound up in that is the family situation; Mr Catalano and his wife are trying to pick up the pieces and put them back together."
Catalano, the former chief executive of Domain, is accused of an alleged hour-long attack in March on his wife, Stefanie, that ended when she escaped the couple's St Kilda home and fled onto the street for help.
Court proceedings are ongoing, with the next steps depending on negotiations between the parties.