Friend mistakes rescued wombat for newborn baby

The resemblance to a newborn human isn't exactly striking. Photo / Twitter

One Facebook user has been left red faced after lapse in attention resulted in an extremely awkward conversation.

An unidentified woman posted a picture to Facebook of a baby wombat she had rescued from the side of the road.

It should have been a heartwarming rescue tale, but it soon took a very awkward turn when one of her friend's mistook the hairless marsupial for her baby.

"OMG congratulations! He's beautiful. I miss you so much," the friend wrote.

As if that wasn't bad enough it took the friend eight hours to realise their mistake.

"I didn't look properly. I thought you'd had your baby. I'm so sorry. OMG."

Screenshots of the exchange were posted to Twitter by James Felton.