Disability support worker Lorraine Bourke left the Hunt family about 7.25pm on September 8, 2014.

Her next encounter with them was the next day when she found 41-year-old Kim Hunt dead outside her Lockhart district farmhouse.

Police later found the bodies of her three children – Fletcher (10), Mia (8) and Phoebe (6) – on beds inside the house.

The body of 44-year-old Mr Hunt was found in a farm dam the following day.

All died from single shotgun wounds.

Asked by counsel assisting the inquest, Dr Peggy Dwyer, if it seemed to be an unusual day, Mrs Bourke replied:

“Yes, it was like you could cut the air with a knife, it was just very tense.”

Mrs Bourke told the inquest on Wednesday she did not sense a devastating tragedy was about to unfold.

This was despite the tension, which was a regular occurrence in the household as a result of life pressures following Mrs Hunt’s near-fatal 2012 car crash and a consequence of her traumatic brain injury

“What I am very interested in asking you is if you had any suspicions at all something like this would happen to this family?” Dr Dwyer asked.

“No,” Mrs Bourke replied.

She said that night she asked Mrs Hunt if her husband was depressed. ”He was just very quiet, not answering questions, no emotion on his face, looking at the ground when I asked him anything,” Mrs Bourke said.

Earlier, Mrs Bourke said she had never seen Mr Hunt use physical violence towards his wife, nor did she see Mrs Hunt – who was prone to explosive rages because of her medical condition – become violent with her husband.

The last words she heard from the family was Mr Hunt saying: “Goodbye Lainie, thanks, see you tomorrow”.

Mr Hunt impressed counsellors as a loving and devoted husband and father.

Practicing psychologist Kylie Irman saw Mr Hunt as part of counselling for two of his children in April 2014.

“He was very quiet, very well mannered, very respectful of Kim and he doted on the kids,” she said.

Counsellor Clive Murphy, who saw Mr and Mrs Hunt in June, 2013, said he was a “very gentle” and “very concerned man” who was afflicted by anxiety and self doubt, believing he constantly failed.

The inquest continues on Thursday.