NSW State Coroner Michael Barnes hands down his findings into the crash of MH17.

AN INQUEST into the MH17 crash has acknowledged the anguish of families forced to repeatedly relive the last moments of their loved ones ever since the tragedy.

Their latest ordeal came as they watched a graphic reconstruction of the moment a missile hit the Malaysia Airlines flight at Glebe Coroner’s Court in Sydney today.

Of 298 who died in the crash, 38 were Australian citizens or permanent residents.

NSW State Coroner Michael Barnes made these key points as he presented his findings today:

1. SHOT BY A WARHEAD

The coroner confirmed the plane was shot out of the sky on July 17, 2014, by a 9M314M warhead fitted to a surface-to-air missile.

It was fired by a Buk mobile missile launcher from Donetsk, Ukraine, less than three hours after the flight departed the Netherlands for Kuala Lumpur.

The missile detonated within a metre of the plane’s cockpit, sending hundreds of cube and bow tie-shaped pieces of shrapnel into the plane, separating the cockpit from the business class section of the aircraft and spreading the wreckage across six sites in a 50km radius.

The detonation caused the aircraft to disintegrate at high altitude, the Dutch Safety Board’s investigation concluded.

2. DEAD WITHIN MOMENTS

Mr Barnes confirmed the deaths of six NSW citizens, Michael and Carol Clancy, Victor Oreshkin, Gabrielle Lauschet, Jack O’Brien and Sister Philomene Tiernan.

They all died from injuries related to the explosion, the coroner said.

Everyone on board would have lost consciousness or died “very soon” after the missile detonated above the plane, counsel assisting Cate Follent revealed earlier in the day.

The families today watched a vivid computer-generated reconstruction of the moment of impact, prepared by the Dutch Safety Board.

Relatives of the victims were consulted on the holding of the inquest in NSW, and agreed they wanted it to take place to honour their family members.

Mr Barnes called it “an official and public forum in which the deaths of our community members that occurred in the MH17 disaster and the suffering that precipitated can be acknowledged.”

3. SECONDARY VICTIMS

The coroner said he was acutely aware that each of the deaths investigated had caused great grief and distress to the family and friends of those who died — the many “secondary victims”.

“Sometimes only one person is missing but the whole world feels empty,” Jon O’Brien, whose son Jack was killed in the crash, told the inquest.

Vera Oreshkin, who lost her son Victor, added: “Victor is a part of us, a part of our hearts that has been torn out and can never be fixed or filled. He deserves justice.”

Tim Lauschet shared stories and jokes about his mother Gabriele, laughing and wiping away tears with each memory.

The two of them came to Australia from Germany when he was four and she raised him as a single mother. “When that plane went down I lost my family,” he said.

4. ‘GROSS MASS MURDER’

The missile was reportedly deliberately fired by “a person or persons not yet identified” in what the coroner described as “gross mass murder” and a “deliberate, malicious act on the other side of the world”.

Mr Barnes said that fact would undoubtedly add to the anguish for the victims’ relatives, but he noted differing wishes among them.

He said some of the “survivors” were not interested in holding individuals to account for the atrocity, seeing them as “small players in a bigger macabre game.”

But he admitted that others “understandably want justice for the dead” and punishment for those responsible.

5. CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION CONTINUES

Mr Barnes admitted that “regrettably there are still important aspects of the disaster that remain unknown.”

Numerous investigations have already taken place into various aspects of the matter, said the coroner, including searching for remains, identifying victims and recovering and reconstructing the wreckage.

The inquest drew mainly on the exhaustive investigation by the Dutch Safety Board.

In March and July 2015, calls for witnesses saw more than 100 people come forward to be interviewed and provide statements.

A joint investigation team is now conducting a “criminal investigation into the disaster with the ultimate goal of identifying and prosecuting the perpetrators of the attack.”

It will continue until at least later this year, said the coroner, adding that it was “reasonable” to expect a prosecution at some point.