A West Australian mother who suffered horrific burns in a firebombing attack has described how she felt her skin melt away.

Penelope Travers needed marathon surgery to repair burns to 25 per cent of her body and won't be able to work for weeks.

It was 4.30am on October 6 when Travers' garage in Mandurah, south of Perth, exploded, sending her fleeing into the night with her pants alight.

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She was trying to save her home when a spray paint can blew up in her face earlier this year.

"It felt like being fried, flesh fried, instant, quick, just burn," she said.

For 17 agonising days the single mother-of-two lay in a hospital bed in the burns unit at Fiona Stanley Hospital.

She was covered head-to-toe in thick dressings in between undergoing surgery and blood transfusions.

"Both my arms, the backs of my hands and the top of my foot have all had skin grafts," she said.

It wasn't until later police told her it was a targeted attack.

Someone had thrown a fire bomb at her car but it bounced off, instead setting the garage on fire.

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As she recovered in hospital the attackers came back to finish the job on October 12.

Her ute was set alight while her 16-year-old daughter was home alone.

"This brought something traumatic to my doorstep and I couldn't protect my children from seeing this or dealing with this," she said.

"They're still having nightmares."

Mandurah detectives are investigating both fire attacks, which are being treated as suspicious

Anyone with information is urged to contact police.

Travers is sore and itchy, but recovering but with no way to work, she's started a fundraiser to help pay the bills and aid the long road to recovery.

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"I am originally from NZ but have called Australia home for almost 15 years," she wrote on the online fundraiser.

"Unfortunately, being a Kiwi means the Australian Government has very few financial supports available to me. 

"I have been granted a temporary benefit but it does not cover my rent, let alone any other monthly expenses."

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A rail worker is being hailed as a hero as he fights for his life in hospital after a horrific mass stabbing on a UK train put 11 people in hospital.

Police said the man tried to stop the attack and "saved lives" by his actions.

The staff member was one of 11 people hospitalised after the mass stabbing, and is the only one in a critical condition.

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Police have yet to lay charges over the incident, though one man remains in custody.

Here's what we do know about the attack.

What happened?

At about 7.42pm Saturday night local time (6.42 am Sunday AEDT) passengers aboard a London-bound train from Doncaster made the first emergency calls to police, with reports of people fleeing through the carriages and seeking shelter in the train toilets.

The train driver, since identified as a war veteran, pulled the train in to an emergency stop at Huntingdon, about 120km north of London.

Police swarmed the train and arrested two men at about 7.50pm local time, just eight minutes after the first emergency calls.

Ten people were taken to hospital, while an 11th later self-reported.

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Was it a terror attack?

In their initial response, police treated the mass stabbing as a potential terror incident, broadcasting the code-word "Plato" to responding officers – the term used to indicate a "marauding terror attack".

However, authorities have since walked that back, without speculating further as to motive.

"This is a shocking incident and my thoughts are with those who have been injured and their families," British Transport Police Superintendent John Loveless said outside the station in Huntingdon in eastern England where the train halted soon after the attack.

"There is nothing to suggest this is a terrorist incident."

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How are the victims?

Six people remain in hospital as of this morning (AEDT), with one in a critical condition.

That person has been identified as a railway staffer who tried to stop the attack, and who police say saved lives with his "heroic" actions.

"Having viewed the CCTV from the train, the actions of the member of rail staff were nothing short of heroic and undoubtedly saved people's lives," Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Cundy said.

Five other people have been discharged from hospital.

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Who were the men arrested?

A 32-year-old man and a 35-year-old man were both taken into custody at the scene.

However, this morning, police confirmed they had released the 35-year-old man without charge, saying he had not been involved.

"It was reported in good faith to officers responding to the incident that he was involved in the attack, and following enquiries we can confirm that he was not involved," police said in a release.

The 32-year-old remains in custody.

He has been identified as a British national from Peterbough, which is where police say he boarded the train.

A knife has also been recovered at the scene.

What happens next?

It is likely the sole remaining suspect will be charged once police have finished their interrogation.

London North Eastern Railway, or LNER, which operates the East Coast Mainline services in the UK, confirmed the incident had happened on one of its trains and said there would be major disruption on the route until Monday local time (Monday evening/overnight AEDT).

Loveless said passengers will see a "high visibility presence of police officers at stations and on trains" on Sunday.

Reported with additional details from Associated Press.

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Two dogs have been seized and a 55-year-old man is fighting for life after he was mauled inside a Sydney unit.

A neighbour called emergency services to Pyrmont Bridge Road in Camperdown about 10am over a dog attack.

Police had to force their way inside the unit to get to the man, who was on the balcony. 

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He had suffered serious arm and leg injuries.

The man was treated at the scene by paramedics before being rushed to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in a critical condition.

The City of Sydney Council has seized two dogs believed to be involved in the attack and is holding them at Sutherland Animal Shelter as investigations continue.

A third dog, which is a puppy, is being held by police before it is transferred to the RSPCA.

"We investigate all dog attacks and have a range of actions we can then take depending on the nature of the specific incident and available evidence and severity of the attack," a council spokesperson said.

"This may include issuing fines, and orders (declaring the dogs either menacing or dangerous) or initiate court proceedings where a magistrate may issue instruction to have the animal euthanised."

Council and police are investigating the incident.

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The chairman and CEO of embattled telco Optushave been grilled at a Senate inquiry into the catastrophic triple-zero failure that left three people dead.

Human error during a firewall upgrade in September led to an outage in multiple states and territories, which led to customers being unable to call the emergency line.

Speaking at a Senate inquiry today, Optus CEO Stephen Rue admitted the mistakes made by the telco during and immediately after the outage.

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"There is no doubt that the timeline shows there were delays, there were mistakes made," he said.

"The tragic deaths of people during this outage stay with us as individuals and as a company as we investigate the incident.

"I fully accept there are aspects to the way events unfolded and how they were communicated over September 18 and 19 that we should have handled better."

Rue said correct steps and procedures were not followed after the company became aware of the outage and admitted that despite the offshore call centre believing the network hadn't failed, the issue should have been escalated.

"This was a unique situation whereby the call centre people believed the network was not failing, but they should have escalated those calls," Rue said.

"The initial mistake, a human error, occurred when the wrong process plan was selected for a routine firewall upgrade.

"The selected plan did not divert traffic before locking equipment inside the exchange that routes triple-zero calls.

"This error was not detected because control steps were not followed and alarms were not acted on at the time."

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Rue insisted this was "an explanation, not an excuse".

He also insisted the company had not been misleading in its delay in confirming how many calls were impacted in the outage.

"I wouldn't characterise it as misleading, it was information as we knew it at the time," he said.

"Sadly, it turned out to be different, we accept that."

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The fallout has been disastrous for Optus, with the triple-zero failure the latest in a long line of incidents and issues at the company over the last three years.

Rue, who came into the company in 2023 after previous CEO Kelly Rosmarin resigned in the wake of a nationwide outage, is also under increased pressure to keep his job.

Two Optus executives have already announced their departure, but Rue received an endorsement from Optus chairman John Arthur.

"There were I think 10 failures here, 10 failures. And if you're asking me whether I am alarmed at that, I can assure you I am," he said.

"However, this man was brought into this company to make sure we became a company that didn't have 10 failures like that.

"Now that's his job, and I'm expecting him to finish it."

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Rue said it was not the right time for him to step away from the company.

"I firmly believe that another change of leader at this time is not what Optus needs, or what our customers need," he said.

Optus has been criticised for having critical infrastructure and call centres located offshore, and Rue said the company had made changes as a result of the triple-zero failure.

"We will take back calls that relate to triple-zero calls and relate to vulnerable customers… and ensure that they are dealt with onshore in Australia. And we're in the process of doing exactly that," he said.

"Our contact centre procedures have been overhauled, including a mandatory escalation process for any customer reports of triple-zero issues."

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The brother of a prominent property developer who was allegedly kidnapped and held hostage for four days in Sydney's south-west has been reunited with his family after it allegedly paid a $1 million ransom demand.

CCTV showed a white SUV pulling up on Bazantin Avenue in Belfield about 6am on Thursday.

Three hooded people were seen getting out of the car and grabbing 28-year-old George Ayoub, who was on his way to the gym, before forcing him into the car.

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Ayoub, the younger brother of a prominent property developer Charlie Ayoub, was then allegedly held captive for four days.

9News initially became aware of the incident on Thursday, but complied with a police request not to broadcast it due to a risk to his safety.

During his captivity, police established a strike force to investigate the incident and determine his location.

His family allegedly received ransom demands. 

A family friend and social media personality Peter Valusu, known online as Triggs, posted videos calling for Ayoub's release and offering to pay the ransom.

He posted another one about 3.30am today, claiming a $1 million ransom was paid and Ayoub had been freed.

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Ayoub was released uninjured and walked to a service station in Chipping Norton, where he contacted his family about 2am.

They showed up in utes to pick him up and he has since reunited with his loved ones. 

"We finally secured his freedom, and the look on George's face when he saw us was priceless. And also the tears that came from his family's face when we walked him into the house was priceless," Valusu said.

9News understands Ayoub has no criminal record and is not known to police.

The three suspects remain on the run, and the police investigation is ongoing.

NSW Police have not commented on the incident.

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Killer cook Erin Patterson has been granted leave to appeal her guilty verdicts.

Following a marathon 10-week trial, Patterson was found guilty in July of the murders of Don Patterson, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, as well as the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, after serving them a deadly beef Wellington lunch in 2023.

She was sentenced to life in prison, with a 33-year non-parole period.

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Patterson has now lodged a bid to appeal the verdict, which has been accepted by Victoria's Court of Appeal, allowing her to challenge the jury's findings.

More to come.

The fault saw 1200 cubic metres of wastewater spill into the Mahurangi River.

Fire crews are fighting in strong winds to extinguish the blaze.

Temperatures could hit 27C in Christchurch and Hastings later this week.

Diversions were in place as a result of the crash south of Rotorua.