A DAD has admitted that his "paternal instinct" drove him to save his overdosing daughter's life instead of her friend who was in a worse state and eventually died after taking a huge hit of heroin.

Dr Jack Kerry told the coroner in Australia on Thursday that he found his daughter Athena Kyriacou and her friend Lucas Adam Pike, unconscious in 2016 and instinctively began CPR on just her.

He revealed: “I went straight to my daughter.

“I didn’t know whether she was going to come out of it and I didn’t know whether Luke Pike would come out of it.”

Dr Kerry said that his daughter's friend was in a far worse state than her, but said the man had “gone past the point of no return”.

However, Dr Kerry said Mr Pike’s condition was not a factor in his decision not to work on him.

He said: “If Luke Pike had been the only man in that room... I would have been straight onto him straight away."

Dr Kerry directed another man, Mark Campbell, to perform CPR on Mr Pike and briefly took over when Mr Campbell left the room.

Paramedics arrived a short time later and treated Mr Pike, but they were unable to revive him and he died at the scene.

If Luke Pike had been the only man in that room... I would have been straight onto him straight away.

His daughter was then taken to hospital for further treatment.

She is now trying to start a modelling career.

The coroner has heard she, Mr Pike and Mr Campbell had bought £80 worth of heroin and visited Dr Kerry's CBD practice in Adelaide, where Athena worked as a phlebotomist — someone trained to draw blood from a patient.

On the night of Mr Pike’s death, officers searched a Kurralta Park home after they established a link between his overdose and the address.

They found drugs and cash, leading to the eventual conviction of a man on trafficking charges.

According to counsel assisting the coroner Naomi Kereru, a syringe taken from the medical practice was never recorded in the police report or forensically tested, therefore could not be linked to the supply.

The inquest continues.