Footage from AP & The Express.
Newstalk ZB's Tim Dower looks at the latest from London in the wake of the deadly attacks.
A London man has shared his trauma over not being able to save Australian victim Sara Zelenak.
Gerard Vowls, 47, has opened up about his attempt to distract three terrorists as they violently stabbed the 21-year-old Brisbane woman during last weekend's terror attacks in London.
The construction worker told The Australian he had been making his way home on Borough High St in East London when a man approached him claiming to have been stabbed.
Unsure whether to take the man serious, he looked back and saw people running and a woman, who he now believes to have been Ms Zelenak, being attacked by all three terrorists.
Rather than running away, Mr Vowls ran towards the attackers and tried to distract them, pleading for the men to chase him and not the young woman.
"I wanted to distract them, to stop them, I wanted them to turn attention to me rather than the blonde girl," he said. "She was crying out 'help me! help me!', and I tried so hard, screaming to get them to look at me."
With no weapon, Mr Vowls said he took a nearby hire bike that had been left on the ground and tried to dismantle it for parts to throw at the terrorists, but failing that, threatened to throw the bike straight at them.
"As I went to throw it, one of the attackers turned to me with his machete and started to chase me," he told The Australian.
"They are pure evil, they are hateful, they are not human."
Mr Vowls told a morning programme in London he had been traumatised over the incident, and was filled with regret over not being able to save the young woman.
"I'm honestly in shock, I'm having nightmares, flashbacks," he said.
He told The Australian he wanted Sara's family to know that someone had tried desperately to save her.
Gerard Vowls, a witness of Saturday's attack near London Bridge. Photo / AP
"I really tried to help her and get them to chase me. I am ripped apart knowing she died. It's destroying me," he said.
Although Ms Zelenak could not be saved, Mr Vowls has been credited with saving the lives of two Birmingham women who he protected from the attackers and told to run.
In a note from one of the women who tracked him down via his sisters, one of the women said: "We would have been directly in their path, Gerard gave us precious seconds."
A brave football fan and a baton-wielding police officer are among others who are being credited with saving lives during the attack that killed at least eight people including two Australians.
North London man Orlando Giraldo was dining at the Borough Market when the terrorists raided the popular hub and began a frenzied stabbing attack.
"Suddenly a man with a bearded face and a vest on came from the side and started stabbing people in the group with his knife," he told The Independent.
"A few second later a Bright Transport Police officer ran past me and jumped in the thick of it with just his baton. He was fighting the bearded attacker and I am sure another knifeman joined the attack as well.
"I am sure if it wasn't for his bravery the attacker would (have) made his way to us."
Another Londoner, Roy Larner, has spoken about how he took on the terrorists with his "bare hands" and the reputation of his football team.
Mr Larner said he was at the Black and Blue Steakhouse when the attackers burst in and began their stabbing frenzy, shouting "Islam! This is for Allah!".
He responded: "F*** you, I'm Millwall", citing the name of the football team he supports famed for its feared and dedicated fans, and began "swinging" and grabbing at the men with his bare hands.
Mr Larner remains in hospital with knife wounds to his neck and chest after taking on the terrorists.
