The lifesaving drone captured the moment Matt Wilkinson was stalked by the animal while surfing off Sharpes Beach, Ballina in Northern NSW.
Footage shows the shark approach the surfer's legs before darting away at the last second as the drone let off a warning sound.
The close encounter was caught on camera by Surf Life Saving New South Wales, who operate the drone service to monitor beaches around the Ballina area.
As the shark approached the surfer the device emitted a warning to the surfer through a speaker.
The pro surfer said he overheard the warning but he was still shocked to encounter the shark at such close range.
'I heard a splash and a noise and looked around and couldn't see anything,' he said.
'I got to the shore feeling a bit weird and the lifeguards showed me the footage and I realised how close it came without knowing it was there. It looks like it's going for my leg and it's changed its mind.'
It's not yet known what kind of shark it was.
Wilkinson said: "It could have been either a little white or a bull shark or a bronzie.
"It was probably about 8 foot long, it looked like it was a few feet longer than me."
The close encounter wasn't the first shark scare for Wilkinson, who competed on the same day Mick Fanning fought off a shark in the 2015 Jeffreys Bay Pro in South Africa.
Fanning miraculously survived when the shark knocked him off his board in a frenzied attack.
Wilkinson said he feels incredibly lucky he got out of the situation unscathed.
'I feel grateful and pretty weird at the same time but happy it decided not to go me. When I saw the footage I saw the similarities, like I had a yellow leg rope on and Mick's board was yellow is what I was thinking about when I came in.
'I called my wife because I didn't want her to see the footage before I saw it. She doesn't want me surfing for a couple of days now.'
The drone operator had just launched his seventh flight for the day when he spotted the shark near the surfer.
'It sort of came out of nowhere, then went right up to Matt. It moved pretty fast. I was tracking it and notified the lifeguards and used the speaker on the drone to get everyone out of the water. Within 10 seconds it was at the surfer and five seconds later it was gone,' Beau Monks from the Australian UAV Service said.
'I'd spotted a large baitball and some whales and dolphins earlier in the day and had alerted the lifeguards to that.'
Drones were also used several weeks ago when a large shark was spotted near competitors at the Tweed Coast Pro World Surf League event at Cabarita.
Source: Surf Life Saving New South Wales, Daily Mail, The Sun
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patryn.worldlatestnews
Footage shows the shark approach the surfer's legs before darting away at the last second as the drone let off a warning sound.
The close encounter was caught on camera by Surf Life Saving New South Wales, who operate the drone service to monitor beaches around the Ballina area.
As the shark approached the surfer the device emitted a warning to the surfer through a speaker.
The pro surfer said he overheard the warning but he was still shocked to encounter the shark at such close range.
'I heard a splash and a noise and looked around and couldn't see anything,' he said.
'I got to the shore feeling a bit weird and the lifeguards showed me the footage and I realised how close it came without knowing it was there. It looks like it's going for my leg and it's changed its mind.'
It's not yet known what kind of shark it was.
Wilkinson said: "It could have been either a little white or a bull shark or a bronzie.
"It was probably about 8 foot long, it looked like it was a few feet longer than me."
The close encounter wasn't the first shark scare for Wilkinson, who competed on the same day Mick Fanning fought off a shark in the 2015 Jeffreys Bay Pro in South Africa.
Fanning miraculously survived when the shark knocked him off his board in a frenzied attack.
Wilkinson said he feels incredibly lucky he got out of the situation unscathed.
'I feel grateful and pretty weird at the same time but happy it decided not to go me. When I saw the footage I saw the similarities, like I had a yellow leg rope on and Mick's board was yellow is what I was thinking about when I came in.
'I called my wife because I didn't want her to see the footage before I saw it. She doesn't want me surfing for a couple of days now.'
The drone operator had just launched his seventh flight for the day when he spotted the shark near the surfer.
'It sort of came out of nowhere, then went right up to Matt. It moved pretty fast. I was tracking it and notified the lifeguards and used the speaker on the drone to get everyone out of the water. Within 10 seconds it was at the surfer and five seconds later it was gone,' Beau Monks from the Australian UAV Service said.
'I'd spotted a large baitball and some whales and dolphins earlier in the day and had alerted the lifeguards to that.'
Drones were also used several weeks ago when a large shark was spotted near competitors at the Tweed Coast Pro World Surf League event at Cabarita.
Visit Surf Life Saving: https://bit.ly/2GOVLGG
Music: "New Horizons" FuturemonoSource: Surf Life Saving New South Wales, Daily Mail, The Sun
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patryn.worldlatestnews
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