A heroic bystander was caught on camera confronting the Australian mall slasher as he charged up an escalator during Saturday's deadly rampage.

A brief video clip shows the unidentified defender wielding a retractable-barrier post against the attacker at the top of the escalator in the Westfield Bondi Junction shopping center in Sydney, according to Sky News Australia.

The killer, who was reportedly holding a large knife, stopped in his tracks as the other man, apparently a shopper, fearlessly took two steps toward him on the stairs, which weren't moving.

The video, about three seconds long, was apparently made on a cellphone by someone on an upper level.

It's unclear what happened after the clip ended.

The stabber was fatally shot by a police officer, ending the bloodbath in which least six people, five of them women, were slain and eight others wounded, including a nine-month old baby whose mother was killed.

Veteran Australian lifeguard and reality TV star Andrew "Reidy" Reid, who was hailed for helping treat victims despite an evacuation order, told News 9 Australia that the man with the post was "the real hero here."

"I hope he did some damage with the bollard," Reidy added.

Witnesses told Sky News that several people tried to stop the unidentified stabber, who is believed to have been a 40-year-old man known to local police.