Marcus Freeman, an Australian tourist in Nice, France with his wife Sally-Anne Freeman.

And they told how the aftermath of the carnage was blanketed by an eerie quiet despite hundreds of police flooding into the area.

Three Australians were injured in the dreadful terror attack on the Promenade in Nice and dozens more fled for their lives as the truck hurtled down the packed road.

Melbourne couple Sasha and Danaë Goldsmith watched in fear from their apartment balcony as the drama unfolded just 20 metres from them.

As soon as it began they hit the ground with their two daughters, five and seven, telling the children it was fireworks.

Sydney man Marcus Freeman told of bringing people from the street into his hotel room amid scenes of mayhem and chaos saying “words cannot describe the fear” and Hobart woman Emily Watkins told of screams and confusion.

Marcus Freeman, an Australian tourist in Nice, France with his wife Sally-Anne Freeman.Source:Supplied

Speaking to Channel Nine’s Today Show, Sasha and Danaë Goldsmith, told how the truck had come hurtling down the packed Promenade.

“The truck came hurtling down the road and the music stopped and people scattered everywhere,” Mr Goldsmith said.

They got down and locked themselves into their apartment as they heard gunshots.

“Once the music stopped we thought what’s going on so looked down and all the people started scrambling and there was a whole lot of noise and I thought, why is the truck there, it was just going through the crowd … there was no cars allowed on the Promenade because of the celebration so it was all a bit weird. Then I thought s---, everyone is running so I got the kids and we got down … there was just bang bang bang. We were down on the ground, we got down on the ground in the apartment,” Mrs Goldsmith said.

She said they had told their two daughters it was fireworks before putting them to bed, so they were unaware of the death below them.

“It is pretty bizarre actually because it is so quiet here. There is so many people but it is so quiet,” she said.

As the police below them opened the bullet ridden cabin of the truck one of the officers vomited, presumably at the sight of the dead driver inside.

Katie Shaw from Perth witnessed the Nice terror attack.Source:Supplied

Perth woman, 21-year-old Katie Shaw, told News Corp Australia of being petrified amid the noise and chaos.

Ms Shaw, on a three-month holiday, was down at the foreshore watching the Bastille Day fireworks with friends who she had met while travelling.

“After the fireworks my friend and I walked to a bar, after a few minutes people ran in and we could hear a commotion out the front. The staff then pulled the roller doors down and ushered us to the back of the pub while we could hear gunshots,” Ms Shaw said last night.

“We all went out the back door then ran to our hostel in a wave of people, there were people everywhere. We heard people talking about a truck and we could hear lots of gunshots. There was a lot of initial confusion,” she said.

It wasn’t until Ms Shaw got back to her hostel that she realised the full horror and extent of what had happened.

But the fear on the faces of the people around her along with the gunshots made it clear to her that something dreadful was unfolding.

“I was petrified at the time, everything happened so quickly, there was so much noise and chaos it was all just white noise to me.

“When I got back to the hostel I felt nauseous discovering what had happened, I had mixed emotions of devastation and gratitude that all my friends and I were okay.”

Asked if she had realised how bad it was, Ms Shaw said: “As I was running it didn’t hit me but I just assumed with the number of gunshots I could hear and the fear on everyone’s faces.”

She said she was saddened by the current state of world events and that so many innocent lives had been lost.

Rhys Lawry who is currently in Nice, France.Source:Facebook

Rhys Lawry, 23, was one of 27 Australian students in Nice to attend a European Innovation Academy. Twenty of the students were from Melbourne and several from Sydney.

He described a massive stampede as the attack unfolded and people ran for their lives.

“We were there on the beach watching the fireworks and then suddenly everyone started running and there was a massive stampede. We heard screams, people screaming and everyone was running in one direction. We thought we’d better start running too and it just got faster and faster and you’ve just got this panic,” Mr Lawry told news.com.

“There were just hundreds of people running and it became a massive stampede. The cops were yelling ‘Run! Run! Keep going!.”

Mr Lawry said the Australians were part of a group of 400 students from around the world who were in Nice to attend the academy program.

Sydney woman Bridget De Jong huddled with her friend in a side street in the aftermath of the attack. She told of seeing bodies along the street as they fled.

“We saw people running towards us along the promenade saying don’t go back there, there’s been an accident, there’s been a shooting,” Ms De Jong told the Today Show.

She said temporary hospitals had been set up in a nightclub.

Emily Watkins, who was with her partner David Coady, an ABC producer, told the ABC of the confusion. She said she didn’t actually remember seeing the truck moving. She was less than 50 metres from the incident.

Marcus Anderson and his girlfriend Bridget De Jong who are currently in Nice, France.Source:Supplied

“There was a lot of screams coming from ahead of us where the truck was and people just running towards us and without really knowing what was going on we turned and ran as well. As we were running away we could hear what I thought at the time were more flares or fireworks. People were tripping over and trying to get into hotel lobbies and restaurants or car parks or anywhere they could to get away from the street,” Ms Watkins said.

Mr Coady described a chaotic scene. “With each bang that we heard behind us, people perhaps started to get a bit faster, people were tripping over, it was a very chaotic scene.”

Marcus Freeman from Sydney too described people stumbling and falling to escape.

“People ran through the streets absolutely fearing the likelihood of getting shot,” Mr Freeman told ABC.

“It’s just such a devastating thing to see … it’s just so sad to see so many happy French people running in absolute terror.”

Australian traveller Ben Terry noticed something was wrong when scores of people were running toward his group on the famous Nice beachfront strip.

“At that point we heard gunshots and we started to run as well, it was pretty terrifying to be honest,” he said.

“Sheer panic. We had no idea what was going on course and in the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks you automatically think you know terrorism, it’s your first thought but there is nowhere really to run to, there are restaurants everywhere, shop fronts everywhere.”

Mr Terry ran up a laneway and into the back of a kitchen and hid with a group of about a dozen strangers in a storage room. He said they huddled together and thought worst-case scenario, a gunman now in the restaurant.

“It was terrifying, we just had no idea what was going on, no information, people were arriving in tears, some with minor injuries but we had no idea,” he told journalists.

After half an hour chefs and waiting staff said it was okay and was probably just an accident but the group emerged to the aftermath of the devastating attack.

“Personally for me had we kept walking for another couple of metres we would have been in that area,” he said.

“You cant help but think ‘did I brush shoulders with other people in the crowds there later struck down in such an awful manner’ and my heart just goes out to them.”