Some victims of the March 15 terror attack didn't receive medical treatment until half an hour after the terrorist had left the scene.
CCTV footage from outside Al Noor Mosque immediately after the attack was played at the coronial inquest on Wednesday, showing the nearly 10 minutes that the gravely injured and dying were left without first aid.
Paramedics, protected by police, first entered Al Noor mosque 30 minutes after the terrorist left.
But police had come and gone much earlier.
One Armed Offenders Squad officer with name suppression was in the first group of police to enter Al Noor. He believed almost everyone in the mosque was dead.
"I could see pools of blood under some of the people," said the AOS officer.
He started calling through police comms for ambulance staff, but they weren’t coming.
"I felt frustrated as they weren't coming, even though myself and others had made calls for them to come forward over the police radio," he told the court.
But from that minute, police at the mosque left the dead and survivors inside alone for more than nine minutes.
CCTV inside the mosque shows one victim during this time.
Chaos was unfolding on police comms.
"Shotgun, out front" officers can be heard saying on the radio.
By this stage, the terrorist had also told police there were nine other active shooters in Christchurch.
"The offender, who had been taken to Christchurch Police Station had something strapped to him and had a phone as well," the AOS officer told the court.
"And he’d made threats that if anyone came close, he would blow the police station up."
Plus, all police radios were mistakenly being told there was a second shooter at the mosque.
"Weapons up… Active shooting into the mosque front entrance," said the police comms on radio.
"What’s going through your mind when you’re hearing that?" asked counsel for some families.
"What the F is going on?" the AOS officer replied.
The officer said he thought an offender may have been coming back to Al Noor.
"It was the only time in my career that I thought this was my last day due to threats that existed," he said.
The inquest heard family and survivors waiting outside the mosque were trying to get back inside, to help the injured, who were at that time alone.
However, police said at that point anyone at all could've been a sleeper or another offender.
Kathryn Dalziel, who is counsel for some of the families, asked if this was to do with them being Muslim.
"They want to know: would've you been so cautious about there being a possible sleeper if you had been talking to a group of white people?" Dalziel asked the AOS officer..
"I would have dealt with the situation the exact same way," he responded.
As one of only three armed police on the scene at the time, he believed he was better outside than in.
"I’m gutted I couldn’t go inside, or didn’t go inside because that was what I wanted to do. But I felt that if I was inside then there was no one to protect us from the outside."
Paramedics eventually came in 35 minutes after the first shots were fired.
