TRAGIC tributes have been paid to Steven Payne after the “incredible mate” and surfer was killed by a shark in Australia.

Devastated friends remembered 37-year-old Payne – whose gruesome death was caught on drone footage – as a “really good lad” who was “always there for his mates”.

The New Zealand native, who was living in Melbourne with his girlfriend at the time, was involved in a horrific shark attack at Wharton Beach on Monday.

Horrified onlookers, as well as his girlfriend, witnessed the tragic ordeal helplessly before a search for his body commenced.

His surf board with bite marks in it was retrieved, but after police announced that a passerby had captured the incident on his drone that he happened to be flying over the beach at the time, police said there would not be “much point in utilising all the resources that we have at the moment too much longer”.

The search was officially called off on Wednesday afternoon.

A friend of Payne told 7News that he was a talented sportsman who played rugby and surfed.

“He was an incredible person who was always there for his mates,” they said.

Old social media photos showed that Payne also enjoyed travelling and snowboarding.

The adventurous surfer was about 50 metres offshore in chest deep water with two other surfers when he was attacked, but authorities said there was “absolutely nothing they could do”.

Esperance police Senior Sergeant Chris Taylor said that the passerby’s drone footage captures “a lot of blood in the water” and “things people did not need to see”.

He said: “The partner observed what happened yesterday, which is tragic.

“There’s only so much of the bay you can keep searching over and over. At the moment, we haven’t recovered anything,” he added.

The beach is popular with tourists, particularly snorkellers and surfers, but is just 100 kilometres away from the nearest shark monitoring beacon.

Authorities will examine Payne’s surfboard to determine the size and species of shark involved in the attack, which could take some time.