The typical Australian drowning victim is a man in his late 20s or early 30s who goes for a swim at the beach on a hot Sunday afternoon.
That is the picture painted by the Royal Life Saving National Drowning Report, which found that 280 people drowned in the nation's waterways between July 2015 and June 2016.
Though this was a 5 per cent increase on the number of deaths recorded during the previous financial year, it was still slightly below the 10-year average.
The report released on Thursday found that men and boys were far more like to drown than women and girls, accounting for 83 per cent of drowning deaths over the 12-month period.
Beaches were the location with the highest number of drowning deaths in 2015/16 with 63 deaths, a 34 per cent increase on the 10-year average.
Many of those who drowned were not swimming when tragedy struck - 46 people were boating immediately prior to drowning, while 39 lost their lives after falling into water.
The highest number of drowning deaths occurred on Sundays, which accounted for a quarter of all deaths, and afternoons were the most common time for drownings to occur.
Twenty-five of those who died by drowning in 2015/16 were tourists, almost half of whom came from Asia.
NSW recorded the highest number of drowning deaths, and the largest number of drowning deaths occurred among people aged 25 to 34 years.
The number of drownings among infants and toddlers aged four or younger decreased by 30 per cent against the 10-year average.
