The contents of a suicide note found at the site of a family massacre have finally been revealed.

“I’m sorry, it’s all my fault, totally mine.”

These were the chilling words of a handwritten suicide note found in the Hunt family home when the bodies of Kim, 41, and her three children – Fletcher, 10, Mia, 8, and Phoebe, 6 – were discovered, shot dead, at their rural property in southern New South Wales last September.

The following day, 44-year-old Geoff Hunt’s body was discovered in a nearby dam. A  gun was close by.

It is believed Mr Hunt shot his entire family before turning the gun on himself, but Lockhart locals are at a loss for the motivation behind the shocking crime.

Coroner Michael Barnes said today that the inquest was “not intended to demonise or blame anyone”.

Counsel assisting the coroner Dr Peggy Dwyer said the real question in the “truly tragic” case was how the “loving and gifted family” died.

“Who shot the five deceased and why?”

The inquest heard a disability worker helped cook the family cook dinner on September 8 last year and discovered Ms Hunt’s body, covered with a jacket, on the path outside the house the following day.

Police discovered the children dead in their beds each with a single gun shot wound, dressed in the same outfits the worker saw them in the night before.

News Limited reports Mr Hunt was concerned about the frost affecting his crops and that the family had been under strain since Mrs Hunt was injured in a car crash in 2012.

An associate of Mr Hunt told News Limited that the crime was a complete surprise.

“There was absolutely no indication that anything was wrong or that anything like this was about to happen,” he said.

“He appeared to be in fine spirits.

“He’s a lovely guy, very easygoing and he seemed happy and perfectly normal.”

Dr Dwyer said there were “no obvious financial or business stressors” for the couple and no evidence of any previous physical violence or threats by Mr Hunt – who witnesses described as “hard-working, quiet, easy going, warm and loving”, the ABC reports.

But she said brain damage sustained by Ms Hunt changed her personality, often making her tired and forgetful and causing her to verbally abuse her husband over relatively minor matters.

“Kim showed signs of extreme self loathing at times, as well as suicidal ideation,” Dr Dwyer said.

“On numerous occasions she expressed the wish that she had died in the car accident.”

Dr Dwyer said Mr Hunt’s parents reported that he appeared affectionate with the children the day before their bodies were discovered, though his mother noted he “had no smiles today”, Fairfax Media reports.

The inquest heard Mr Hunt was making normal plans before the killings, such as agreeing to attend a grain growers meeting the day his family’s bodies were found and to play tennis the following day.

The suicide note did not identify its author.

But handwriting expert Crime Scene Officer Melanie Holt told the four-day inquest, which began today in Wagga Wagga, the note was written by Mr Hunt.

“She just wouldn’t have been able to write as fluently and fluidly,” she said.

“I’m very confident he [Geoff Hunt] wrote it.”

The hearing continues.

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