The heroic actions of a Dreamworld worker whose first week on a ride became a nightmare.

-With AAP

A young Thunder River Rapids operator tried to save people on the Dreamworld ride when it malfunctioned, an inquiry trying to get to the bottom of four tragic deaths has heard.

Cindy Low, Kate Goodchild, her brother Luke Dorsett and his partner Roozi Araghi were killed in the disaster in October 2016 at the Gold Coast theme park.

This week an inquiry into the tragedy has heard that Courtney Williams, a young attendant manning the ride, had tried to get victims out, The Courier-Mail reports.

It was Williams’ first week working on the Rapids ride. She was a level two operator who had been a ride operator for two years.

She was standing in the off-loading area when the ride malfunction and rafts collided and after alerting senior ride operator Peter Nemeth, she rushed to get people off the ride and saved a victim’s young son.

“Once the incident had unfolded, [Williams] went into emergency mode and assisted everyone she could, including [Cindy Low’s son] Kieran out of the ride,” lead police investigator Detective Sergeant Nicole Brown said.

The Courier-Mail reports Williams no longer works at Dreamworld.

Meanwhile, AAP reports the young, unnamed attendant at the control panel at the time, did not hit an emergency stop button because she didn't know what it did.

Barrister Steven Whybrow, representing victims Kate Goodchild and Luke Dorsett, said an emergency stop button was not clearly labelled and the operator was unaware of its exact function.

"She was told not to worry about that button, no-one uses it?" Whybrow asked Det Sgt Brown.

"Yes," Det Sgt Brown replied.

Whybrow added that a memo sent to staff in the days before the tragedy had dissuaded staff from using the emergency button.

The inquest heard the main control panel for the ride also did not have an emergency switch which would shut down the ride, with a second switch needing to be used to halt the ride's conveyor belt.

"It is a confusing control panel, and that has been raised by the auditors," Det Sgt Brown said.

The inquest heard the ride operator at the control panel when the tragedy occurred "wasn't sure which button to press" under the stress.

Det Sgt Brown said if there was an automatic sensor in the machine designed to shut down the ride if water levels dropped to a dangerous level, it would have prevented the tragedy.