Qld hostage feared death as 'payback'

One minute she was doing laundry, the next her arms were pinned back and a knife was pressed to her neck.

A Brisbane mother has relived the harrowing day she, and her teenage daughter were taken hostage in their own home by an acquaintance, Brent Rivett, who was demanding "payback".

Rivett, 45, believed the woman's husband had slept with his girlfriend and was the biological father of his son.

It was Boxing Day 2013 and the woman, who can't be named for legal reasons, was hanging up washing in her backyard.

"He grabbed me from behind and pinned my arms," the emotional mother told Rivett's inquest on Monday.

"I tried to shrug him off.

"He said, 'you scream and you're dead'."

The woman broke down and sobbed as she recalled how her hands were cuffed behind her back, her feet tied and a gag forced in her mouth.

"He just kept saying it was payback," she said. "He said, 'I'm prepared to die today'.

"When he said 'payback' ... I thought he had come here to kill us."

Her 13-year-old daughter had watched the frightening scene from her upstairs bedroom window.

The girl dialled triple zero and was told to hide in the bathroom.

The Brisbane inquest heard that Rivett later kicked down the bathroom door and discover her hiding in the bath.

"Are you going to kill us?" the terrified girl wanted to know.

Rivett fired just two shots - the first on police who accidentally walked up the driveway, believing it was the neighbouring house.

Twelve minutes later he turned the gun on himself.

But the terrified hostages remained shackled in an upstairs ensuite for several hours as cautious officers tried to make contact with the gunman.

The mother and daughter were finally rescued through an upstairs window more than five hours after their ordeal began.

An internal police investigation found Rivett had stopped his ongoing mental health treatment and had recently ended a relationship and a job.

Counsel assisting the coroner Emily Cooper said his statement about being prepared to die showed his state of mind.

She found police had followed proper procedure, and told Coroner Terry Ryan an internal police investigation had left no stone unturned.

"Your Honour can rely on the conclusions of that investigation that Mr Rivett was determined to end his life once he knew the police were outside," she said.

Mr Ryan is due to deliver his findings on Rivett's death and the adequacy of the police operation next week.