One of two backpackers attacked on a remote South Australian beach emerged with "blood all over her," a witness says.
Camper Josh Harris saw the woman, who was possibly hit with a hammer, as her rescuers brought her to a roadhouse at Salt Creek.
"At first I thought it was mud on her face. As she walked, supported by people, blood was all over her," he told AAP.
"The guys who dropped her off were in shock. She'd said her attacker was going to kill her."
A 59-year-old man has been charged with a string of offences including unlawful sexual intercourse and attempted murder in relation to the incident in the Coorong National Park on Tuesday.
Police have also established a task force to investigate the attack including whether the man was linked to other crimes.
Mr Harris said the second woman caught up in the attack seemed "okay physically".
"She was holding a pillow to her head but was running around saying 'where is she? I need to see her. She saved my life'.
"It was horrific. It was like something from a movie. It was Storm Boy turned into Wolf Creek."
The women, aged in their 20s, were hospitalised. By Thursday, one had been discharged with the second still under observation in a stable condition after suffering serious injuries.
The attack has shocked locals in the popular tourist destination.
"Something like that, you wouldn't expect it to happen on your front door. It's a beautiful area," Coorongdunes Holiday Accommodation owner Mandell Tiver said.
"It could scare off a few people - backpackers, bushwalkers - certainly for the short term."
The women met the accused Tuesday and set up camp with plans to spend the night at the beach before finding themselves in what police said was a "dire" situation.
Not long after one of them ran out of the dunes naked, bloodied and screaming towards a group of fishermen who raised the alarm and bought her back to the Salt Creek roadhouse.
"She had some scratches and that on the legs. Looked like she'd been pulled around, dragged around and that," one of the men, Abdul-Karim Mohammed, told Seven News.
Her companion was later found near the campsite.
Coorong District Council Mayor Neville Jaensch praised the rescuers as heroes.
"We regard the Coorong as a very safe area ... and it is a tragedy," he told ABC radio.
"The heroes of this are the young men and the other members of the community."
The accused did not apply for bail when he appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court by video link on Wednesday.
He will return to court on April 18.
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