How fraudster Melissa Caddick's foot became detached from her body and multiple declarations to friends and family about where she might "end it" will be examined at her inquest.
Jason Downing SC, counsel assisting Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan, said in his opening address that Ms Caddick was suspected to be dead.
But a forensic pathologist is expected to say they were unable to determine whether her decomposed foot was separated due to blunt force or decomposition before it washed ashore on the NSW south coast.
Ms Caddicks parents Barbara and Ted Grimley and brother Adam Grimley along with her husband Anthony Koletti arrived on Monday morning at the NSW coroners court in Lidcombe.
The two-week inquest will examine events leading up to her mysterious disappearance and her foot being discovered in a running shoe on Bournda Beach.
With the right medical assistance an amputation is not considered a lethal injury, but on the balance of probabilities it was suspected that Ms Caddick had already died, Mr Downing said.
The Australian Federal Police and Australian Securities and Investments Commission raided her Dover Heights home in Sydney's eastern suburbs on November 11.
That was the last verified sighting of Ms Caddick apart from her husband Anthony Koletti and child who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Mr Koletti told police his wife left for a walk early the following morning, but did not report her missing until about 28 hours later.
This delay will also be subject to scrutiny during her inquest.
Her victims, mostly family and friends, lost $20-$30 million through her Ponzi scheme used to fund her lavish lifestyle and excessive spending on expensive jewellery, designer clothing, overseas getaways and multi-million dollar homes.
Her clients believed she would invest their life savings on their behalf and she created fake documents to suggest she had done so.
In late 2012 Ms Caddick's marriage to Tony Caddick dissolved following her affair with Mr Koletti who was her hairdresser.
She purportedly told her brother Adam about this time: "If it all gets too much to me you'll find me at The Gap".
Another friend said Ms Caddick made her write down a four-letter code she was instructed to give Adam if she went missing.
By late 2020 her friends say Ms Caddick was under extreme financial pressure and on one occasion walked to the Dover Heights cliffs.
"If I'm going to end it, it's going to be here," her friend recalls Ms Caddick telling her.
The inquest continues.
Lifeline 13 11 14
beyondblue 1300 22 4636
