The trial of Gérard Depardieu on sexual assault charges was postponed until next year after the actor failed to appear in court on Monday, saying he was unwell.

His lawyer Jérémie Assous had said the 75-year-old was “extremely affected” by ill health and that he had asked for the proceedings to be delayed until he could attend in person.

The health of the actor, who has had a quadruple heart bypass and suffers with diabetes, had declined because of the stress caused by the hearing, the court heard before it adjourned to consider the request to delay.

Depardieu was also said to be incapable of remaining seated for six hours. Medical certificates from a cardiologist and an endocrinologist were produced, declaring that the actor was not in a fit state to appear.

Informed that one of the alleged victims had travelled 400km to be at the hearing, Assous said he had requested the trial be postponed in a letter to the court last Thursday.

Lawyers for the two female plaintiffs deplored that they were presented with a “fait accompli”, and asked for the actor be examined by a court-appointed doctor and psychiatrist. Their request was refused.

Depardieu is being tried on charges of sexually assaulting two women while shooting the 2021 film Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters).

Depardieu, an icon of French cinema who has appeared in more than 200 films, has denied accusations that he aggressively groped and made explicit sexual remarks to the women – a set designer and an assistant director. In an open letter published last year, he said: “Never, but never, have I abused a woman.”

The actor is the highest-profile figure to face accusations in French cinema’s version of the #MeToo movement, triggered in 2017 by allegations against the US producer Harvey Weinstein.

The names of the two women at the centre of Monday’s trial have not been made public. The set designer reported in February that she was subjected to sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist insults while filming Les Volets Verts, directed by Jean Becker, in a private house in Paris.

The plaintiff told the French investigative website Mediapart that during the shoot Depardieu started loudly calling for a cooling fan because he “couldn’t even get it up” in the heat.

She claimed the actor went on to boast that he could “give women an orgasm without touching them”. The plaintiff alleged that an hour later she was “brutally grabbed” by Depardieu as she was walking off the set. The actor pinned her by “closing his legs” around her before groping her waist and her stomach and continuing up to her breasts, she said.

Depardieu made “obscene remarks” during the incident, she said, including: “Come and touch my big parasol. I’ll stick it in your pussy.” She described the actor’s bodyguards dragging him away as he shouted: “We’ll see each other again, my dear.”

On Monday the plaintiff’s lawyer, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, told Agence France-Presse: “I expect the justice system to be the same for everybody and for Monsieur Depardieu not to receive special treatment just because he’s an artist.”

Durrieu-Diebolt added: “My client expects that the justice system will find Gérard Depardieu to be a serial sexual assaulter.”

The second plaintiff in the case, an assistant director on the same film, also alleges sexual violence.

Assous previously said Depardieu’s defence would offer “witnesses and evidence that will show he has simply been targeted by false accusations”. He accused the plaintiff of attempting to “make money” by claiming €30,000 (£25,000) in compensation.

The defence also asked for a further eight witnesses to be heard, which would result in the trial taking longer than originally planned. It is now scheduled to be heard on 24-25 March next year.

Anouk Grinberg, an actor who appeared in Les Volets Verts, told AFP that Depardieu used “salacious words … from morning till night” while on set.

About 20 women have accused Depardieu of various sexual offences, which he denies. The actor Charlotte Arnould was the first to file a criminal complaint. A judge has yet to rule on a request from prosecutors in August for Depardieu to stand trial for allegedly raping and sexually assaulting her.

Arnould and Grinberg were outside the courtroom on Monday, alongside a crowd of people supporting the plaintiffs.

In December last year the French president, Emmanuel Macron, shocked feminists by complaining of a “manhunt” targeting Depardieu, whom he called a “towering actor” who “makes France proud”.

Macron’s remarks followed the broadcast by an investigative TV show of a recording of Depardieu making repeated misogynistic and insulting remarks about women.