The inquest was shown three amateur video recordings made in the immediate aftermath of the bombing. Some of the footage had not been seen in public before, all of it was graphic.
Most of the relatives of the dead and other victims of the explosion left the inquest as the three unedited tapes were shown. Each film showed images of dead and wounded lying on the street with screams and the sirens of emergency vehicles in the background.
The Australian voice of one of the cameramen sounded close to breaking as he said again and again: "I can't f. . .ing believe what I'm seeing here."
After the videos, the coroner, Mr John Leckey, said he had been keen to show them in full to highlight both the devastation caused by the blast and the difficulty in conducting an examination of the scene.
Mr John Edgar, a mapping officer, testified that, as the crow flew, the distance from the centre of the courthouse to the seat of the explosion was 380 yards. This distance would be slightly more on foot, he said.
The inquest was also shown a detailed map of the bomb site. On it were marked the locations of pieces of metal, a battery connector, the wreckage of the bomb car and two others as well as what were described as three "pieces of flesh". An indication of the force of the explosion was that the bulk of the car carrying the bomb lay more than 50 feet away. The car's bonnet had cleared a two-storey building across the road and travelled 65 metres away.
Mr Barry Fox, acting for the relatives of Ms Esther Gibson, Mrs Avril Monghan and her 18-month-old daughter, asked Mr Edgar if he could draw a 200-yard circle on the map with its epicentre around where legal parking began in front of the courthouse.
Mr Fox contended that in discussing the distance of the bomb from the courthouse, and the RUC's response to warnings that it was 200 yards from the courthouse, distance from the start of legal parking was of relevance. This was because the bombers would not have been expected to park any closer so as to avoid drawing attention to the car, Mr Fox said.
Mr Stephen Ritchie, counsel for the RUC Chief Constable, asked Mr Edgar to point out on the map the locations of four officers who had been clearing Market Street at the time of the explosion. They were placed on the map as being around 40 yards from the bomb.
The inquest was also shown footage from a police traffic vehicle driving to the site of the bomb following the route the bombers are believed to have taken.
Afterwards Mr Leckey adjourned the inquest for an extended lunch break for the benefit of victims who watched what he described as "these dreadful scenes".
A series of aerial photos were shown, illustrating possible escape routes for those on High Street/Market Street as well as the position of the bus which had left victims from Donegal and Spain into the town. More accurate aerial photos were also shown of the bomb site before and after the explosion. These and subsequent images taken on the ground after the bomb had exploded clearly showed its effect. Debris littered the entire street and S.D. Kells, the shop outside which the Vauxhall Cavalier had been parked, was little more than a shell of a building, with its roof caved in. Further photos from the scene will be displayed today.
Counsel for the coroner, Mrs Gemma Loughran, cautioned that painful images would be included in these and that families of the deceased might consider absenting themselves from this section of the inquest.