The inquest began in June 2021, before Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan with ten days of evidence from police officers and members of Barter's family. The inquest then sat for another ten days in February 2022 and three days in April 2022 to hear the evidence of a man called Ric Blum who says he had two brief affairs with Barter, first in the 1960s then again in 1997 very shortly before she disappeared, making him one of the last people to see her. The inquest also heard from former Queensland police officers working at the Missing Persons Bureau, staff of the Commonwealth Bank, Ric Blum's wife of 45 years, and two other women with whom Blum had extra-marital relationships in the 1990s. The inquest sat for one further day in October 2022 to hear the evidence of a Byron Bay bank employee who says they remembered serving Marion Barter in 1997.
