A man who came to the aid of his neighbour a week after she became trapped in her toilet says he wishes he could have helped sooner.

The 67-year-old Ipswich woman was wedged so badly - with her feet on either side of the toilet bowl and the door opening inwards - that she was unable to free herself and spent the week calling for help.

It wasn't until Michael Hibberd was hanging out his washing at his home on Sunday morning that he heard her cries.

"It seems a bit 21st century, how un-neighbourly we are, and I do feel bad in a way that I didn't hear her cry for help sooner, but I'm glad that I was in the right place at the right time and did hear her when I did," he told The Queensland Times.

