Footage shows the moment a surfer in Australia had a scarily close brush with death, after a shark swam up behind him while he was in the water – thankfully escaping with only minor leg injuries after punching the beast away.

Dylan Nacass was surfing at Bells Beach, which is around an hour and a half from Melbourne in Victoria, on Friday 8 May.

Nacass, who is from France, had no idea the shark was stalking him as he paddled in the water, and was surprised when it latched onto his leg.

The 23-year-old managed to get free after punching the shark twice, which prompted the animal to eventually release him from its jaws.

Speaking to Nine News, Nacass recalled: “I punched him one time, he stay in my legs, two times, after… he go.”

A local surfer called Matt Sedunary had been out in the water at the same time, and said he thought Nacass was joking around when he first heard him yelling for help – with shark attacks being a rare occurrence at Bells Beach.

“He started screaming – I honestly thought he was joking around with his friends,” he told Nine News.

Saying he ‘wasn’t going to ditch him‘, Sedunary added: “Most people would do the same thing.”

Sedunary also said he had no idea the shark had been stalking them until he saw the chilling footage – which had been captured by Graham Blade, who was filming from a cliff.

He shared the clip on social media, where one Instagrammer commented: “YIKES!!”

Another added: “Oh f*** no.”

A third said: “F*** this is hectic! Glad everyone safe!”

Someone else joked: “That’s awesome footage @grahamblade! Just a little friendly shark coming to say g’day.”

The chunk taken out of Nacass‘ leg may say otherwise, but sure.

In the comments, Blade explained he only started recording because he heard a commotion in the water.

“I started recording because he started yelling and my mate was sitting right next to him,” he wrote.

“I didn’t know what was happening till about 5 mins in then I saw it pop up.”

While you’d probably assume Nacass wants nothing to do with the sea ever again, believe it or not, he’s keen to get back into the water when he can – saying the only thing holding him back at the moment are his (thankfully minor) injuries.

“I really want to go back soon,” he said.

“Just when my leg, it’s OK. I’m going to go back to surf soon.”