Maddy was dancing at Falls Festival. Moments later, she thought she was going to die.

Moments after Maddy danced away to one of Australia’s most popular bands, she found herself crushed by her fellow festival-goers, convinced she was going to die.

“I couldn’t move and I couldn’t breathe,” the 23-year-old recalled on SBS’s The Feed. “It was the most terrifying experience of my whole life.”

Left with a cracked pelvis, burst blood vessels and traumatic memories, Maddy was just one of around 70 people injured in the horrific human crush at Falls Festival in Victoria’s western coast on December 30, 2016.

The stampede of thousands of people was caused when the DMA’s ended their performance on stage inside a tent. People then rushed towards the Lorne ground’s main stage to see UK band London Grammar – but the narrow exits caused a bottleneck that resulted in hundreds being squashed in the crowd crush.

Maddy, a teaching student at the time, described the moment the already rowdy crowd turned into a violent mass of bodies.

"The closer we got to the exit, the squashier it got and it got to the point where I wasn’t actually moving. The crowd was moving me," she told The Feed reporter Laura Murphy-Oates.

"[I thought] 'I’m going to die. This is it'.

"The more people started piling on top of me. I was screaming as much as I could 'Help! Someone help!'. I bit somebody’s leg to try and get them to notice me and to get me out. But it was just black."

Maddy was taken to hospital with a cracked pelvis as well as severe bruising and grazing to her legs and arms. Her body had been put under so much pressure and that the blood vessels in her eyes burst, causing her eyes to appear red.

These injuries are all healed. But what she is left with now are the still traumatic memories.

"[The DMA's] were good… but I can’t listen to them anymore," she said.

"This is going to stay with me for the rest of my life. I have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I don’t handle big crowds very well. I tripped over at work the other day and I had a panic attack. I am terrified of being injured again."

Michaela had a similarly terrifying experience and too was left with memories that will haunt her.

"I wasn’t able to move forward. People were still pushing me from behind. I fell onto the person in front of me, and I felt someone fall on top of me. I could feel the air get squashed out of my lungs," she described.

"I remember sort of waking up on the grass somewhere and realising that my arm was paralysed.

"You go to a festival thinking that you‘re going to have fun and feel safe. Thinking that you’re in a situation where you could die is the last thing on your mind."

Following the incident, the festival's organisers, Ash Sounds Pty Ltd, were subject to a WorkSafe investigation. It found there was not enough evidence of wrongdoing to proceed with criminal charges.

Victims unhappy with the individual responses they received from the company later joined a class-action lawsuit, seeking millions of dollars in damages for the injuries they suffered.

Last Friday, when the two parties met for court-ordered mediation, a settlement couldn't be reached. A case at Victoria’s Supreme Court will begin on November 19.

Falls Festival representatives told The Feed they would not comment due to legal proceedings.

Watch The Feed's full report: