Footage of Tanya Day’s arrival at Castlemaine police station on 5 December 2017, just over an hour before the “significant” fall that would end her life, has been played at an inquest into her death in custody.

Day, a tiny woman in activewear and a bright pink jacket, was escorted through the corridor of the police station by three bulky officers. She cried at the charge counter while being logged in to custody and was stripped of her jacket and shoes, both of which contained cords that could be considered a ligature risk.

Tanya Day's arresting officer tells inquest he didn't think she needed medical attention Read more

In cell No 1, a small beige room with a hard bench and metal toilet, she was made to stand up while police laid down a blanket and couch cushions as a makeshift bed. She was unsteady on her feet, holding the hand of one police officer while a female officer patted her down. Two other police were watching from the doorway. All were wearing disposable gloves.

Day was upset to be in custody, says senior constable Matthew Fitzgibbon, but that was not unusual. “No one is happy to be in a cell,” he said.

She was not aggressive or belligerent.

“Her demeanour was fine,” Fitzgibbon told Catherine Fitzgerald, the counsel assisting coroner Caitlin English. “She was never aggressive towards police.”

The footage is the first to clearly show Day on the day of her arrest. She was arrested for being drunk in public on a V/Line train to Melbourne, after a conductor called for police assistance for an “unruly” asleep passenger.

Earlier footage showed Day on the train station platform with police officers Stephen Thomas and Aaron Towns, who took her off the train.

Play Video 1:14 Tanya Day inquest shown CCTV footage of arrest on V/Line train – video

Fitzgibbon and his partner, Kristian Hurford, were working the afternoon shift at Castlemaine that night to cover local officers who were attending their Christmas party.

They arrived at the train station as the train was pulling out and joined Day and the other officers on the platform.

Hurford called Day’s daughter, Kimberley Watson, and told her what had happened. Watson was unable to drive from Melbourne to collect her but said she would try to find someone.

Fitzgibbon said Hurford asked Watson if Day had any medical issues or medication and “as far as I am aware, nothing was disclosed”.

Hurford’s statement said he told Watson that Day would be taken back to the station “as per our procedure for any drunk” and would be there for four hours. None of the police can state the origin of the four-hour rule.

Peter Morrisey, counsel for the Day family, suggested police had already decided to take Day in custody before Watson was called.

Fitzgibbon told Fitzgerald that he did not, at that time, give consideration to calling an ambulance because “I didn’t believe it was required”.

Thomas and Towns gave the same evidence, despite being shown police procedures that recommend seeking medical treatment for intoxicated people who present as “confused.”

Tanya Day's arresting officer tells inquest he didn't think she needed medical attention Read more

Fitzgibbon and his partner took Day back to the police station in the back of the divisional van.

Once at the station, Fitzgibbon said, he called the Aboriginal Community Justice Partnership (ACJP) to notify them that an Aboriginal person had been taken into custody, and ask if they could send someone to collect her. He spoke to a person named Sandy.

“Sandy told me that Day was not known to her and she was not prepared to send one of her staff to collect her,” he said.

Fitzgibbon had been made a police Aboriginal liaison officer the week before. He said Day would not have been treated differently if was a white woman from Bendigo.

“It wouldn’t have mattered who it was,” he said.

Fitzgibbon did not interact with Day again after leaving the cell. She died in hospital from a brain haemorrhage on 22 December 2017.

The inquest continues.