Steve McKellar became a lifesaver on his daily walk in Warrnambool’s Albert Park when he used his Deakin University nursing training to revive a stranger, who was suffering a heart attack.

“I saw a lady with dogs about 200 metres away calling out to me ‘help, help, I need you to come help me’,” he said. “I thought it might have had something to do with her dog, or she’d sprained her ankle or something like that.”

But the woman, Annette Wilkinson, was holding her husband, retired Warrnambool teacher Graham.

Mr Wilkinson, in his 70s, was slumped over and unresponsive and his wife needed Mr McKellar to help her get him flat on the ground.

“As I got closer I could see that he wasn’t too good,” Mr McKellar said. “He was very blue and not moving.”

He performed CPR for about 10 minutes until paramedics arrived. Mr Wilkinson was then airlifted to Geelong Hospital, where he underwent surgery and is now recovering. Mr Wilkinson's son Martin said Mr McKellar had saved his dad's life.

"We're really thankful,” he said. “Between Steve's training and our ambulance service, paramedics, they really all do an amazing job."

Mr McKellar was “at the right place at the right time”.

“It doesn’t matter how you look at it everyone should know CPR because you never know when you’re going to use it,” he said. “That’s the most important thing to take from this.”