Watch: Dental surgery on ‘Australia’s crankiest crocodile’ almost ends in disaster

“The whole thing was over in less than 15 seconds, but it felt like an eternity,” Mr Collett said.

“I have never felt anything like it and I have caught hundreds of big crocodiles. He just went absolutely berserk.

“Bang, all of a sudden, I get hit in the head. I didn’t even know what it was. I went starry-eyed. I can’t even describe how hard I was holding on to this crocodile because if I had let go, got flicked off the side, I would have put the whole team at risk,” he said.

“It was like being in a fight. At one stage, I had my head at the side of his head literally looking straight into an open mouth and I knew at that stage I had to get myself and the team out of there. We were in serious danger. Things went wild, really fast.”