Tuesday Sep 5 10:07 AEST
Fatally injured by a stingray, Steve Irwin pulled its barb out of his chest before losing consciousness, dramatic footage of his last moments reveals.
Friend John Stainton said the footage of the stingray attack which took the life of the Crocodile Hunter on the Great Barrier Reef was "shocking".
Mr Irwin, 44, died after the stingray barb punctured his chest while snorkelling off Port Douglas, in far north Queensland.
A cameraman captured the incident during filming for Irwin's new project with daughter Bindi, eight, that was to debut in the United States next year.
"I did see the footage and it's shocking," Mr Stainton told reporters in Cairns.
Mr Stainton, who was aboard Mr Irwin's vessel Croc One when the tragedy occurred, said it was likely the television star and naturalist died almost immediately as a result of the stingray's blow.
"(He was) probably a metre coming over the top of it," he said.
"He was underwater. I think, and the coroner's report will say what happened, but I think he died fairly instantly."
Mr Stainton said he was still in disbelief that a stingray could claim his close friend's life.
"He was always on the precipice," he said.
"He always pushed himself to the very limits but I thought he was invulnerable and I think he did too.
"I think we all had that belief that we'd pull through whatever situation we were in and he has been in some very close shaves with snakes and crocodiles.
"I would never imagine it to come from something like a stingray."
"It's a very hard thing to watch because you're actually witnessing somebody die ... and it's terrible."
Mr Stainton, also a producer and director of Irwin's popular television shows, said the footage showed Mr Irwin pulling the barb out of his chest before losing consciousness.
"It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him here (in the chest), and he pulled it out and the next minute he's gone.
"That was it. The cameraman had to shut down
(every hour or so, I separate the meat until it becomes all shredded!) Serve it on sesame-seeded buns with potato chips....
to go with it i get maths art geography and p.e 
