A mother looking for her 3-year-old son at a Sydney hotel on Anzac Day found him in the most unlikely of places - inside a soft-toy vending machines playing among the potential prizes.
The incident occurred at the Australian Hotel and Brewery at Rouse Hill on Tuesday afternoon as the drinks flowed and punters played two-up.
Firefighters worked for 20 minutes to extract the toddler, who had climbed up the chute the stuffed toys usually come out of.
Fire and Rescue NSW Riverstone station captain Dave Richards says when he arrived, the boy's mother and other patrons were peering at the three-year-old trapped inside the machine.
She wasn't too concerned because there was plenty of room and air for her son, Mr Richards told AAP today.
"He was happily playing with all the toys that were inside there."
Firefighters used special door-opening equipment, usually reserved for gaining access to burning buildings, to rescue the toddler.
The boy was then taken outside and given some water.
"All he wanted to do was play on our truck," Mr Richards said.
"He was having a ball watching all the flashing lights and entertaining himself. He actually put my helmet on."
That the toddler had managed to make his way up the chute was surprising, the captain said.
"There's normally a piece of metal or timber that stops you reaching in and grabbing the toy," Mr Richards said.
"He would have had to climb in a bit of a maze to actually get up there."
The toddler didn't get to keep a toy from the machine but was given a hand-knitted teddy bear, made by local seniors, which the fire station usually gives to children involved in fires.
