(CNN) A dramatic rescue operation successfully freed a humpback whale trapped in a shark net off Australia's Gold Coast.

Footage from the scene taken by Nine News shows the enormous whale thrashing in the water Monday, further entangling itself in the yellow lining of the net as it attempted to escape.

A team of marine rescuers from the Queensland Boating and Fisheries Department managed to get close enough to the whale, while in a small rubber dinghy, to cut away the net.

After more than one hour, staff from Sea World in a nearby boat pulled the net off the whale, allowing it to swim away.

WATCH: The moment the tangled whale off Burleigh Heads is set free from shark nets. #9News pic.twitter.com/epb0iQV0C2 — Nine News Gold Coast (@9NewsGoldCoast) July 16, 2018

Sea World Director of Marine Sciences Trevor Long said it had been "quite a delicate rescue."

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