A surfer was lucky to escape with a superficial scratch on his back, a torn wetsuit and teeth marks in his board when he was attacked by a shark on Tuesday off an Australian beach.

Marcel Brundler, 37, estimated the shark that grabbed his board was a 3-metre (10-foot) Great White shark. He was surfing at Cathedral Rock, near Lorne 140km southwest of the Victoria state capital, Melbourne.

Mr Bundler said he punched the shark before making his escape by catching a wave.

Marcel Brundler said he initially thought the shark was a dolphin, but quickly realised it was much bigger than the mammal.

"But then I realised fairly quick because it was more than half a metre wide, with a massive dorsal fin, and it looked at me," he told ABC News.

"Then it kind of dived off, came back and circled me, and took a fair notch out of my board, circled me again, then it got me on my (westsuit), it got me on my hip.

"Luckily, it's just a little scrape on my skin."

Mr Brundler said that he punched the shark then rode a wave away.

"I was shouting and punching it while it attacked me," he told the Associated Press. "I was really, really lucky this wave popped up out of nowhere," he added.

Lucas Von Graevenitz Sanchez said he watched the attack through his binoculars from the shore.

"The shark was massive," Von Graevenitz Sanchez said.

Police said Brundler was remarkably calm after the attack.

"The shark left bite marks in his board and tore at his wetsuit ... but he has no injuries. He was very, very lucky," police Senior Constable Mick Atkinson said.

"There were four surfers in the water at the time and they paddled in pretty quickly after that," Atkinson added.

Despite the ordeal, Swiss-born Mr Brundler said he would probably surf again next week.

"Maybe not on my own though, it will be a little scary," he said.

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