Lauren O’Neill, 29, was swimming near a private wharf in Elizabeth Bay on Monday evening when she was bitten on the leg by a shark.

The microbiologist had arrived home from work in the evening with the temperature still 30C when she decided to cool off in the harbour, just steps from her Billyard Ave apartment.

In a statement provided to media, Ms O’Neill said she was “taking a short dip close to the shore” when she was bitten.

“She wishes to thank her heroic and very kind neighbours for the critical assistance they provided her,” the statement from St Vincent’s Health Australia says.

“Lauren is also immensely grateful to the NSW Ambulance paramedics and Kings Cross Police for their swift and caring actions at the scene.”

She also thanked the specialist surgical teams who worked through the night to help her make a full recovery.

She thanked her “beautiful family, friends and colleagues” for their care and support.

“She would also like to thank the public for their outpouring of support and kindness, and as she turns to focusing on her recovery, asks that her privacy, and that of her family’s be respected,” the statement said.

Ms O’Neill has undergone surgery and has now been moved out of the Intensive Care Unit and into a ward to recover.

She had been known to swim in the bay near her home on multiple occasions, with Monday expected to be like the others.

She was pulled from the water and covered in blood where she was treated by locals before she was taken to St Vincent’s Hospital.

Neighbour Michael Porter was one of the first people on the scene and heard Ms O’Neill’s “soft yell” before rushing to help.

Describing the scene to NCA NewsWire, he said there “was blood everywhere”.

“I saw Lauren climbing out of the Harbour on the ladder and she was sort of pulling herself up quite weakly, she didn’t have much strength and there was a whole pool of red blood in the Harbour,” Mr Porter said.

“Her leg was limp.”

It’s understood the 29-year-old had been swimming around boats close to the shore when she was attacked.

Mr Porter stayed with Ms O’Neill as he called triple-0, and other neighbours came to her side with towels.

He said a neighbour, who also happens to be a vet, had bought new tourniquets and bandages that day and rushed to help.

“They were wrapping and piecing her leg back together … it was an absolutely horrific injury,” Mr Porter said.

A large police and ambulance presence rushed to the scene after she was mauled on her right leg.

Originally published as Shark attack victim Lauren O’Neill says she was ‘taking a short dip’ when she was mauled