Senior Australian government officials spent days wargaming financial disaster scenarios in February 2008, eight months before the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers at the height of the Global Financial Crisis, a former key advisor has revealed.

This week marks 10 years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008.

The government: Preparing for the worst

The director of policy in the Prime Minister's Office during the Rudd government, Pradeep Philip, said officials met at the Treasury to test out responses to a series of extreme scenarios.

"What would happen if, for instance, there was a capital strike on the balance of payments against Australia?" Dr Philip told 7.30.

"How would that work through? What would the consequences be? How would you deal with that?

"We worked through scenarios.

"What if there was sovereign default, a country went bust? How would that work through financial markets?"

On September 13, 2008, as the crisis intensified, there were fears of a run on the banks in Australia.

"I received a call on the Saturday from the chief of one of the largest second-tier banks in Australia and he said, 'I am ringing you to let you know that one of our single largest depositors is going to withdraw its funds'," Dr Philip said.

"We had already known that things were tight. We had seen the run on the banks in the United States. We had seen other countries starting to act around deposits."

The Australian government guaranteed bank deposits in early October and launched its first stimulus package.

"That was a pretty intense, terrifying time," Dr Philip said.

At the same time the Reserve Bank slashed interest rates.

"No one wanted a recession on their watch," he said.

"No one wanted to undercook this, and part of the problem was no one knew exactly how this would play out."

The hedge fund manager: Predictions of another GFC

Nick Ferres was a hedge fund manager for Prudential in 2008. ( ABC News )

Nick Ferres was managing $25 billion of funds for the British insurance company Prudential when the GFC hit in 2008.

"It was terrifying," he told 7.30.

"We genuinely believed at the time that there was a solvency issue in the banking sector and we were certainly concerned that in the absence of the intervention that we saw from both the Fed and the authorities in US, that the banking system would have been insolvent."

He said it was possible it could all happen again — even within a matter of months — in part because companies in the US have again built up massive debts.

"US corporate debt to GDP is now higher then where it was in 2007 and higher than where it was in 2000," he said.

"We think that is one of the biggest risks to the global asset markets."

The investor: Compensation takes decade to arrive

Mark Weir said he "virtually lost everything" during the GFC. ( ABC News: Eliza Goetze )

Australia managed to dodge a recession, but millions of people still suffered. Ten years on, many are still getting back on their feet.

"The icy winds of the Global Financial Crisis blew and destroyed our plans and aspirations," Mark Weir told 7.30.

Mr Weir and his wife had borrowed money to invest with Townsville investment company, Storm Financial.

He thought his investment was safe, but as the GFC took hold, Storm Financial went under and, along with thousands of other Australians, he lost his savings.

"It was total bewilderment," Mr Weir said.

"We really didn't know what the level of devastation was, but when it became apparent that we had virtually lost everything, and our security in retirement, it was unbelievable — the trauma was unbelievable."

The Weirs lost more than $2 million they had worked a lifetime to save, and found themselves owing $580,000 more.

Two weeks ago, they finally received a small settlement payout.

"I'll be quite happy if I don't have to engage with a lawyer or a bank for the rest of my life," Mr Weir said.

"I think that's a pretty general attitude amongst Storm investors — they will not trust the banks."