A high-vis jacket, a white blouse and a torch are poignant clues about the final hours of a woman who died after getting lost on a midnight bushwalk.
Esther Wallace's body was found in the Mount Canobolas State Conservation Area, on the outskirts of Orange, NSW, on December 11, 2022, after a large-scale 12-day search.
An inquest is examining the efficacy of the search and the circumstances of Ms Wallace's death, which is not considered suspicious.
The 47-year-old had set out on a walk on the steep Federal Falls track with her boyfriend in the early hours of November 30, wearing only a blouse, tights and sandals in below zero temperatures.
The couple went to the track to look at the twinkling city lights after a day spent with friends.
They walked for about an hour before they took a wrong turn into thick and rocky scrub, and a panicked Ms Wallace refused to move, the inquest has been told.
After the pair argued about the best way out, the man left Ms Wallace with his high-vis jacket and walked to safety at sunrise to call for help.
During an intense operation involving police, State Emergency Services and PolAir, the jacket was found on the fifth day of the search and Ms Wallace's blouse was found four days later.
Her black headband and a torch were also discovered.
Emergency and retrieval physician Ben Butson told the inquest the items showed Ms Wallace was likely suffering delirium as a result of hypothermia and dehydration.
"Esther cast aside ... items that may have been useful for her comfort and survival," Dr Butson told the inquest in Orange on Tuesday.
"Patients can sometimes cast away things that might be important to them or lose the ability to maintain a rational course of action."
The inquest was previously told of a phenomenon called "paradoxical undressing" in which people suffering hypothermia have hot flashes and remove their clothes in a confused state.
Dr Butson said there were cases of lost people being found naked in snow.
The inquest is looking at whether authorities' classification of Ms Wallace as a lost hiker affected the search, when she had a history of mental ill health, drug-induced psychosis and had recently used cannabis.
It is possible someone with Ms Wallace's history would evade rescuers.
But Dr Butson said the boyfriend's account of their final moments together showed Ms Wallace was unlikely to hide.
The couple sat down, waited for the sun to rise, and Ms Wallace pointed to a track and suggested following it.
"She was searching for a way out of this situation ... to go somewhere where people were more likely to find her," Dr Butson said.
The boyfriend was not implicated in Ms Wallace's death and continually helped police, the coroner has been told.
The inquest continues.