An Australian survivor of the 2002 Bali bombings has called for the death penalty for alleged bomber Umar Patek after testifying at his trial in Jakarta.

Peter Hughes was badly burned by the attacks, his swollen, blistered body captured in footage of the aftermath.

On Thursday he told Umar Patek's trial that the incident had left him isolated, lonely, depressed and very angry.

It is the first time he has come face to face with Patek, who is accused of mixing the chemicals used to make the bombs.

After he left the witness chair, Mr Hughes gave Patek a hard stare and outside the court he called for the death penalty to be imposed.

Two bombs exploded in Bali's Kuta tourist strip on October 12, 2002, one at Paddy's Irish Bar and the second shortly after in a van outside the nearby Sari club.

Mr Hughes, and fellow Australian survivors Jason McCartney and Stuart Anstee, were asked by prosecutors to testify on how the bombings affected them.

Mr McCartney, a Victorian footballer who survived burns to nearly half his body, rolled up his sleeves and trouser legs to show judges his scars.

He told the court he was relaxing with friends at a bar when he was knocked to the ground by an explosion.

"I saw the building on fire, I saw people on fire, then I realised I was on fire," he said.

Mr McCartney recounted the agony of his burns, the financial burden of hospital bills and the pain of not being able to return to professional sport.

"I do still have a great love for Indonesia, and Bali in particular, but I also have sadness about what happened, not only to me, but many other innocent people - and anger," he said.

Speaking outside the court, Mr McCartney and Mr Hughes said it was important for them to have their say.

"I didn't want to be out there crying poor, but I had to do that today to get the message across of how much it's really affected me," Mr McCartney said.

"It was personal, it was about us today. I think what we were doing today was for all Australian people," Mr Hughes said.

'Power of hurricane'

Steven Cabler, an American musician from California who was on a surfing trip in Bali with friends at the time of the attack, recalled the devastation and death at the Sari club.

His friend, Steve Webster, died in the attack.

"When the explosion happened, it was big, it was massive, and I hit my head very hard against my friend's head, and had some fluid on me, and (it) exploded my eardrums," said Mr Cabler, who lost the hearing in his left ear.

"The bomb was like the power of a hurricane, I just want to say it was massive."

Umar Patek was arrested last year in the same Pakistani town where US commandos later killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

He has admitted to mixing the explosives but says he played no part in assembling the bomb.



ABC/AFP