For fellow rescuer Phillip Younis, it feels like it happened just yesterday.

He was the third responder in the boat that capsized on Easter Sunday in 2019, when an attempted ocean rescue went horribly wrong.

The Port Campbell lifesavers, Ross, 71, and Andy, 32, died after their boat flipped as they tried to rescue a tourist in rough waters near the Twelve Apostles.

Mr Younis still bears the emotional and physical scars of that devastating day.

"It might seem like three years for people looking on, but it feels like just yesterday for me. The impacts, the ramifications, are only just starting to show themselves," Mr Younis said.

He welcomed the long-awaited coroner's report into the tragedy handed down recently, but says there's more to be done.

"I have got significant impairments because of it. It's not as though it's over for me," he said.

"The report has been a long time coming, it means that we can move on a bit further.

"Where we're moving on to has got a question mark over it."

He filed a writ in the County Court in case of future legal action.

"I've asked my lawyers to file a writ in the court to protect my legal interests, because there's a legal requirement to do it within three years, otherwise you can never do it," Mr Younis said.

"If we don't notify them now, we can never take any action in the future.

"In my situation it wasn't a long time ago, it was yesterday, because the impact has been so significant. So in that context, making any definitive decisions on anything is going to take time."

Trang van Heugten, special counsel at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers said the accident had a devastating impact on Mr Younis.

"What happened to Phillip has left him with very serious and permanent injuries that have caused a significant impact physically, emotionally and financially," Ms van Heughten said.

"He lives with the consequences every day."

The trio were attempting to save a 30-year-old Singaporean tourist who had been standing in shallow water when he was swept 100 metres out to sea off Sherbrook beach on the morning of April 21, 2019.

Mr Younis, a CFA captain at the time, entered "treacherous waters" with the Powells in the rescue boat just before 11am.

They were thrown overboard when the boat's engine failed and the vessel flipped.

Deputy State Coroner Caitlin English found the rescue boat had suffered a "catastrophic fault" moments before it was hit by a breaking wave.

Mr Younis was able to be winched to safety, and was airlifted to hospital with serious injuries, including a fractured pelvis.

A Parks Victoria officer on the clifftop was able to throw a lifejacket to the tourist, who was also winched to safety and transported to hospital with superficial injuries.

Ms English said this "almost certainly extended his timeframe of survival" and has called for life rings or rescue devices around cliffs at treacherous beaches, among other safety improvements.

She also called for multilingual signage in the area to warn tourists of the risk of rough waters, helmets for rescue crew, improved radio communications and a review of current Victorian search and rescue vessels.

"I acknowledge the impact of this tragedy on the Port Campbell community and responding emergency personnel. I commend each of the volunteers and responding emergency personnel for their heroic actions on this tragic day," Ms English wrote.

Ms English also adopted recommendations that Mr Younis - a life member of the Port Campbell Life Saving Club - along with Ross and Andy Powell and another first responder receive bravery awards for their efforts on April 21.

Both father and son were life-long members of the Port Campbell Surf Life Saving Club and prominent figures in the local dairy farming industry.

In a statement from the Powell family provided to the Coroner Court, the pair was described as loyal, selfless, loving, honourable, and committed.

"The key to both Andy and Ross' lives was nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a sense of what is right, being responsible and decorous," it said.

"They were the type of people that would always do the right thing, even if nobody was watching.

"Ross and Andy's lives were enriched by the contribution they made to society. And our community was so much richer for the their contribution."

As part of an investigation into the men's death, Life Saving Victoria also conducted an independent review and compiled a further 32 recommendations, acknowledged by the coroner. Of those, 28 have already been implemented.

Coronial documents show a Life Saving Victoria panel will now reconvene to review the recommendations.

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