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Melissa Caddick's husband deleted text messages from his phone to hide from police that he smoked a joint with a friend the night his wife disappeared, her inquest has been told.

Anthony Koletti told the court he drove to a friend's house on the evening of November 12, 2022, to get an "e-cigarette".

"Was it in fact to smoke a joint?" counsel assisting Jason Downing SC asked.

"I don't know ... it's possible," Mr Koletti said.

"You must remember," Mr Downing said.

"Let's just say I did, what's your point?" Mr Koletti said.

"On a night you told us you were conducting searches throughout the day ... you in fact went to smoke a joint with a friend," Mr Downing said.

Mr Koletti said he was concerned about his wife and accepted if he did it was to calm himself down.

The text messages exchanged with that friend were later deleted by Mr Koletti before he handed his phone over to police to assist with their inquiries, Mr Downing said.

Mr Koletti said doing that must of had "something to do with marijuana".

He formally reported his wife missing the following day on November 13, and was asked if he had been out the night before.

"Not that I know of," he said.

Mr Koletti's evidence resumed on Thursday after he was asked to step down due to his distress and confusion.

Overnight he had been receiving ongoing abusive messages including one via LinkedIn, his lawyer Judy Swan said.

"Dodgy prick, I hope you get locked up," it read.

The day Mr Koletti says his wife left their Dover Heights, Sydney, house and never returned he texted her at 7.16am on November 12.

"Are you OK?" he wrote.

Soon after this, he found her iPhone in their walk-in wardrobe, he confirmed on Thursday, which "weirded" him out because she never left home without her phone.

At some point he noticed her keys, wallet, a bag full of files were also left behind, but can't recall when.

"The only thing I can vividly remember is the phone."

He didn't leave the home that morning before 7.30am, he said, and was then taken to CCTV stills taken near the Dover Heights cliffs - previously shown and marked by Mr Koletti in July last year.

Ms Caddick's black Mercedes appears to be located in the photograph.

"This is me looking for Melissa can't confirm it's me but looks like me," he has scrawled above his initials.

The image is time-stamped at 6.55am on November 12.

"As you can see it's all a bit of a blur," Mr Koletti says before adding his recollection is "quite hazy".

"I don't recall going anywhere," he said.

In several different police reports and for weeks after Mr Koletti maintained Ms Caddick left the home in black exercise gear and silver Asics.

But after she failed to return he says he assumed she was meeting with a lawyer, or staying in a hotel before her court appearance the following day.

Mr Downing asked why he insists she left in athletic wear if he later believed she was meeting with a lawyer.

Mr Koletti said it was based on assumptions, but denied seeing her wearing them.

Meanwhile, Ms Caddick's brother Adam Grimley has said in an affidavit the family was "floored" counsel assisting seemed to be "going after" his brother-in-law.

He noted counsel seemed to be presenting "unverified gossip as fact" and said Mr Koletti had suffered enormously from the loss of his wife, the shock of her misconduct and unsubstantiated accusations that followed.

© AAP 2022

The impact from the Optus data breach will continue for a long time, the federal government has warned.

In the wake of the breach of almost 10 million customers' data, key talks have taken place between Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones and the consumer watchdog on the customer impacts.

The meeting on Thursday with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission also included regulators and banking representatives.

Mr Jones said while the response to the breach had been wide-ranging, the consequences of the incident would linger.

"There'll be a long-tail impact of this data breach," he told reporters in Sydney.

"There is no lack of goodwill to co-operate, from the Commonwealth, from the banks and even the telecommunications companies.

"People understand the scale of this and we are moving as fast as we can."

Mr Jones said Optus had a responsibility to the almost 40 per cent of Australians affected by the data breach.

It comes as the government is looking at introducing urgent reform to privacy laws.

Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said legislative changes could be introduced to parliament by the end of the year.

"It is certainly not just simply about increasing penalties, although that will be part of the reforms we are going to look at," he told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.

"We need to make sure that companies who are keeping Australians' data pay absolute attention to keeping that data safe."

However, the federal opposition has criticised the government for not implementing reform to online privacy that was recommended from a previous coalition review.

Opposition communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson said the previous calls for reform had fallen on deaf ears.

"It should not have taken the cyber attack on Optus to wake up this government,'' she said.

"The protection of Australians' personal information online must be a high priority for the Albanese government.

"It is critical that our laws continue to be updated to ensure the online protection and safety of all Australians."

Under the coalition proposal, large telcos and social media companies with more than 2.5 million users would be required to obtain fully informed consent to be able to use personal information, and to stop using the information on request.

Increased fines of up to $10 million for serious breaches would also apply.

The data breach prompted nearly all states and territories to allow affected residents to apply for new driver's licence numbers.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has demanded Optus pay for the cost of replacing passports for customers whose data was hacked, saying it was the telco's blunder.

"Companies need to be held to account here, and that is something my government is determined to do," he told 5AA radio on Thursday.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong wrote to Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin on Wednesday, saying there was "no justification" for affected customers or taxpayers to foot the bill.

Mr Dreyfus said he saw no reason why telcos needed to keep data used to validate identification, such as a driver's licence or passport, for a decade.

"Obviously, the more data that's kept the bigger the problem there is about keeping it safe - the bigger the problem there is about the potential damage that's going to be done by a huge hack that's occurred here," he said.

© AAP 2022

The brother of missing fraudster Melissa Caddick says her family categorically rejects the notion her husband could have harmed her or been complicit in her disappearance.

Adam Grimley says the family is "floored" counsel assisting the inquest into Ms Caddick's presumed death seems to be "going after" his brother-in-law.

In a statement to Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan on September 19, he described Anthony Koletti as an "extremely gentle and kind man" who remains a valued member of the family.

"I make this statement in response to the line of questioning taken by counsel assisting which suggests that my brother-in-law ... could have harmed my sister or in some way be complicit in her disappearance", Mr Grimley said.

"The family categorically dismisses such ideas and are absolutely floored that counsel assisting seems to be going after Anthony and saying Anthony or police are to blame for Melissa's disappearance."

He noted counsel seemed to be presenting "unverified gossip as fact" and said Mr Koletti had suffered enormously from the loss of his wife, the shock of her misconduct and unsubstantiated accusations that followed.

The statement was tendered in court before Mr Koletti was called to give evidence this week but was asked to step down due to his confusion and distress on Wednesday.

Earlier he told counsel assisting Jason Downing SC that on the morning of November 12, 2020 when Ms Caddick disappeared he assumed she had gone out to exercise.

"I didn't think anything of it ... she's just gone for a walk which she does every day, not a problem," he told police in an interview.

In evidence Mr Koletti agreed his wife had no habits, her exercise regime was irregular and she mostly jogged on the treadmill.

Mr Downing continued questioning Mr Koletti on Wednesday about this inconsistency, asking if he was now trying to justify his answers.

"One of the accounts must not be true," Mr Downing said.

"I'm guessing so, yes," Mr Koletti said.

"Why are you guessing?" Mr Downing said.

"Because your questions are confusing, the way you talk is not the way my mind works," Mr Koletti said.

Ms Ryan eventually asked Mr Koletti to leave the witness box, saying she relied on him being able to focus on the questions and respond truthfully.

Mr Koletti returned on Thursday to give evidence.

Later on Wednesday an ocean expert told the inquest Ms Caddick's severed foot could have travelled from Sydney cliffs before washing up on the NSW south coast months later.

An examination of goose barnacles found on the foot show it was likely floating off the coast for three to seven days before washing up on Bournda beach - some 400km from Ms Caddick's Dover Heights mansion.

Oceanographer David Griffin said it was possible her body entered the water when she was last seen in November 2020, then floated close to the ocean floor in strong currents for about 93 days before resurfacing in February 2021.

"The NSW coast is the most energetic oceanographic part of Australia," he said.

"It is highly unlikely anything can just drift along the continental shelf without getting caught or snagged."

© AAP 2022