'He was king of the mountain': Footage shows rescue of three-year-old from Hello Kitty claw machine

Queensland Police released the footage of Ethan who was seemingly relaxed in and amongst the soft plushies on Sunday

It only took two seconds for three-year-old Ethan to climb up into a Hello Kitty claw machine on Sunday evening - and a little longer for Australian authorities to get him out.

Queensland Police posted a video of the child to their social media accounts after Ethan had to be rescued from inside the machine at a shopping centre in Brisbane.

The video shows a relaxed toddler in and amongst the soft plushies with his father stood nearby.

Ethan followed instructions and safely made his way out when officers shattered the glass to free him.

An officer joked after the ordeal: "You won a prize, which one do you want?”

Ethan's father, Timothy Hopper, told reporters on Thursday: "He loves claw machines.

"As he always does, he opened up the flap to be an opportunist.

"Then, within a split second, he crawled into the machine, the door closed behind him.

"He stood up and realised what happened and he was king of the mountain."

Stuart Power of Queensland Police said he had never seen a similar incident in his 11-year career.

“When we got the call there was a bit of a smile in the car. Both (of us) as fathers, thinking what our boys would do,” Mr Power said.

“Kids are kids. My boy’s four and I’m surprised he hasn’t done similar.”

A spokesperson for the Retail First Group, owner of the shopping centre, said they are "in discussions with the vendor of the claw machines just to look at measures that we can put in place to avoid this happening in the future."

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