A diabetic driver who passed out behind the wheel and killed five patrons outside a pub looked "like he was wasted" one minute after the deadly crash, a court has been told.
Daylesford hospitality employee Martin Hinck was among nine witnesses called on the first day of William Swale's committal hearing on Monday.
He told Ballarat Magistrates Court he was working at winespeake cellar + deli, across the other side of the roundabout from the Royal Daylesford Hotel, on the evening of the crash on November 5, 2023.
Mr Hinck told police he heard "bang" followed by screaming, and ran to check on Swale within one minute of the crash, the court was told.
Swale, who was sitting behind the wheel of his white BMW, "looked like he was wasted" and looked "bloody awful", Mr Hinck told police.
"My recollection is that he was quite a flushed colour, his mouth was open and his eyes were closed," Mr Hinck told the court on Monday.
"This happened within the first minute of the accident so very soon afterwards.
"After that it was more about diverting the traffic away from the roundabout."
Mr Hinck said a man fitting Swale's description had earlier come into the store and asked for a seat, but he turned Swale away because it was too busy.
"We 100 per cent didn't have any seats, we were totally full and basically that was the extent of that conversation."
Swale, 66, allegedly mounted the kerb in his SUV and hit several people seated on the front lawn of the Royal Daylesford Hotel.
Pratibha Sharma, 44, her daughter Anvi, 9, and partner Jatin Kumar, 30, their friend Vivek Bhatia, 38, and his son Vihaan, 11, were all killed.
Members of the victims' families, including Mr Sharma's brother Vikas, attended the hearing on Monday, as did members of Swale's family.
Swale is facing several charges including five counts of culpable driving causing death and negligently causing serious injury.
Prosecutors will allege Swale, who was diagnosed with diabetes in 1994, ignored warnings from a device about his blood glucose levels declining before he suffered a hypoglycaemic episode while driving.
Swale's device would send notifications to his iPhone, and he received several alerts that his glucose reading was low in the hour before the crash, the court was told.
Paramedic Michael Barker, who treated Swale at the scene of the crash, said his blood glucose measurement was dangerously low, as it was under 1.1.
He said at that level a person could go into a coma or die.
Mr Barker said he gave Swale a glucagon injection, sugar water and told nearby police he believed Swale had suffered a severe hypoglycaemic attack.
Body-worn camera footage recorded other emergency workers telling Swale to "stay with me" amid fears he was gravely ill, Swale's barrister Dermot Dann KC told the court.
"I wasn't able to get a lot of info out of him because he was still quite confused," Mr Barker told the court.
"Eventually I left Mr Swale with the police officer to try and get some information out of him while I went to other patients."
Swale's GP, Phillip Feren, told the court he would conduct regular reviews of the accused man's health and his diabetes was recorded as being well controlled in July 2023.
However, he said Swale was suffering nocturnal hypoglycaemia overnight and before meals so his medication was increased at that time.
The hearing before Magistrate Guillaume Bailin continues on Tuesday.
