Stainton explained: “Suddenly, he expressed interest in encountering some typically harmless stingrays. It should have been an innocuous encounter for a children’s program.”

After chancing upon a 220lb ray resting on the ocean floor, Irwin and Lyons waded into the chest-deep water in the belief that the stingray would swim away from them.

Yet as Steve passed over the ray, it raised its tail to strike, delivering “hundreds of strikes in a few seconds”. With the cameras still rolling, Justin helped Steve back onto the boat and they sped off back towards their main vessel, named Croc One.

“He was struggling to breathe,” Justin recalled. “Even if we had reached an emergency ward immediately, it’s likely we couldn’t have saved him due to the extensive damage to his heart.”