A Sydney beachgoer had a close call on his evening swim this week, coming within metres of a large shark.
Ocean photographer Lewis captured the encounter at Maroubra on Tuesday evening, and shared it to Instagram today.
In the video, the man swims in waist-deep water as a nurse shark swims closer and closer.
As the pair pass within metres of each other, the shark loses interest and turns away.
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Lewis estimated the shark to be "around two metres".
"The shark just appeared out of the whitewash in waist-deep water," he told 9news.com.au.
"It was exciting to watch from above.
Lewis said it's unusual to see the species so close to shore.
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"These are grey nurse sharks. Typically they are very chilled (but) they're not often seen at Maroubra beach cruising in the shallows," he said.
"Evidently the shark has no interest in the swimmer.
"I have witnessed many shark behaviours from above and in most cases they are just minding their own business and happily share their waters with visitors like humans."
The Department of Primary Industries (DPI) say nurse sharks have an unfortunate history in NSW.
After being wrongly accused of a series of attacks off Sydney's beaches in the 1950s and 60s the sharks were "executed on every possible occasion".
In the late 70s it was discovered the species was not a "man-eater".
After much lobbying, nurse sharks become the first protected shark species in the world.
However, recently surveys show NSW populations have not recovered and the species is considered "Threatened", the DPI said.
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