A man wedged in a "very, very narrow" crevice at a Victorian rock climbing mecca, dubbed the Squeeze Test, wasn't getting out of a jam in a hurry.
It took a marathon, multi-agency rescue effort, a pulley system and lots of olive oil pinched from nearby campers to finally end his 10-hour ordeal.
The 24-year-old manipulated his body through a narrow gap between two boulders, known as The Squeeze Test, at Mount Arapiles, when he became wedged late on Monday night.
Ambulance Victoria Wimmera group manager Nick Thresher said it was a "very, very narrow opening" and emergency crews knew the man wasn't going to get out in a hurry.
"It was impossible to access," Mr Thresher said.
"We knew it was going to take an awful long time."
It was initially feared the man would suffer "crush syndrome", where body parts compressed in an accident can fill with potentially deadly toxins that spread rapidly through the body once freed.
But he escaped with only minor cuts and hypothermia.
Mr Thresher said specialist paramedics, Country Fire Authority and State Emergency Service volunteers as well as police search and rescue officers rigged up a pulley system to free the climber.
The man's friends scrounged around the adjacent camping ground at the western Victorian site, described by Mr Thresher as a mecca for rock climbers, for olive oil, vaseline and even shampoo.
"We actually lubricated his body with various lubricating agents which were provided for us," he said.
The man was finally freed about 8am (AEST) on Tuesday and taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where he is in a stable condition.
Mr Thresher warned climbers against attempting The Squeeze Test.
"It is a very risky activity," he said.
"Our message would be carefully consider if you really need to do The Squeeze Test," he said.
