A Tasmanian man whose mother-in-law drowned at a Hobart beach did not act in "haste" to go to her aid, but did not contribute to her death, a coroner has found.

Elizabeth Ann Higgins, 62, drowned at Hobart's Little Howrah Beach in 2011.

Her son-in-law Adrian Lacroix took her to the beach and later helped with efforts to revive her.

Coroner Glenn Hay handed down his findings two years after the inquest, saying Ms Higgins had ingested salt water which lead to asphyxiation and death.

He found no-one contributed to her death by any act of omission, but suggested Mr Lacroix could have acted faster.

Mr Hay was critical of his actions saying that despite being a competent swimmer and Bronze Medallion holder, he had not put those skills to use and had not acted in haste to go to her aid.

"All of the evidence leads to concern that Mr Lacroix did not react to the situation at the beach as might be expected of a reasonable person," Mr Hay found.

He found there was no evidence that Mr Lacroix had yelled out to raise the alarm and had instead run to a beachgoer a "considerable distance" away, who ended up pulling Ms Higgins from the water.

"In my view there is no acceptable evidence of Mr Lacroix operating in any particular haste at the relevant time," the coroner said.

"He could have immediately upon seeing Ms Higgins in difficulty, loudly raised an alarm.

"Mr Lacroix was the closest person to Ms Higgins in what appeared to be a possible drowning episode and in those circumstances the medical evidence, and the application of common sense, is clear that time is then of the essence."

The inquest has previously been told others present at the beach that day heard Mr LaCroix yelling at his mother-in-law to "get out there, get deeper".

Mr LaCroix denied ever yelling at Ms Higgins to swim out further, saying at one point he had been concerned she had gone out too far and had yelled "come in, get out soon, we have to go home".

The coroner said Ms Higgins was not a competent swimmer and any yelling would have made her anxious.

"In my view, this lack of competency as a swimmer was such that she was likely to have been uncomfortable, if not anxious, as a result of Mr Lacroix shouting loudly and aggressively to her, either to encourage her to go deeper or alternatively to encourage her to keep away from the rocks," he said.

"The effect was the same in either case, she did go into deeper water, and not long after she drowned."

'I did everything I could'

Outside the court, Mr Lacroix said he could not have done anymore to save Ms Higgins and he would be taking the coroner to court to dispute the findings.

"I did everything I could, I acted as quickly as I could," he said.

"I assisted in the rescue and attempted resuscitation until ambulance paramedics arrived and took over."

Mr Lacroix has already taken the coroner to the Supreme Court three times to try and get him removed from the inquest, but each time withdrew his actions.

It is one of the reasons for the two-year delay in reaching the findings.

Mr Hay commented that the delay had added to the family's upset and trauma.