The 73-year-old Tuncurry woman drove her 2007 Mazda 3 straight through the beach’s southern car park, demolished a park bench and flew over a retaining wall onto the sand. The car came to rest after 25 metres, and the woman was unhurt.

“Luckily no-one was in her way,” Manning Great Lakes Inspector Chris Hurst said.

“She didn’t appear to know exactly what had happened when police arrived. She was still in shock.”

Witnesses said the Mazda did not accelerate or decelerate in a bizarre journey from nearby West St, into the right-hand lane, over the concrete edge of a garden, up the curb, 50m along a footpath and into the car park.

“There was apparently no excessive speed. It was just a constant 40 kmh,” Inspector Hurst said.

After cleaving through the bench, the car hung in the air over the sand for five metres before it thudded to ground.

The driver was taken to Manning Hospital for observation, and police said she will be issued an infringement notice at a later date