Sydney – An Indonesian marine said five Australian-based journalists killed in East Timor in October 1975 had been "completed" or finished off by the military, an inquest was told Tuesday.

The testimony came at a probe into the death of TV cameraman Brian Peters, one of five British and Australian journalists killed in the East Timor border town of Balibo on October 16 that year.

The Bhasa word "diselesaikan" became the focus of questioning as it was used to describe the fate of the media men to the witness at the time. Via an interpreter a variety of meanings including "completed", "eliminated" and "finished off" were used to explain the word to the inquest.

Officials maintain the so-called "Balibo Five" died in crossfire during a skirmish ahead of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor, but their families insist they were murdered and that there was a cover-up by Canberra and Jakarta.

The witness, a former Indonesian naval sergeant, told the inquest that two days after the newsmen were killed, he made radio contact with a marine because he was trying to learn the fate of a friend involved in military action in East Timor.

The witness, identified only as "Glebe 11", said the radio operator told him the journalists were "completed" after showing their identification. "I was told that when the troops moved forward there were five Australians and... that they were completed," he told the court through an interpreter.

He was questioned by counsel assisting the coroner Mark Tedeschi about the exact word, "diselesaikan", used by the operator to describe the fate of the journalists. Glebe 11 did not know whether it could be used to mean executed but said other possible interpretations aside from "completed" were "eliminated", "killed" or "finished off".

The inquest has heard testimony from several East Timorese witnesses who said they saw the five journalists deliberately killed by Indonesian forces during the attack.