Charmaine Harris McLeod and her four children, Aaleyn, 6, Matilda, 5, Wyatt, 4, and Zaidok, 2, were killed when her small SUV was involved in a head-on collision with a truck on May 27, 2019, on the Bunya Highway at Kingaroy northwest of Brisbane.

The inquest opened in Brisbane on Wednesday before Coroner Kerrie O’Callaghan.

In her opening statement to the inquest, counsel assisting Kylie Hillard said police witnesses would testify as to the conditions surrounding the crash and whether any of the occupants of the car could have been saved.

Hillard said police found a handwritten note in McLeod’s purse at the crash scene.

“In the note, she stated she had been unable to cope and had been seeking help … it was a fateful note – that investigators were lucky to find, given the state of the car,” Ms Hillard said.

She said McLeod had a long history of mental health problems going back to 2009 but her death and the deaths of her children could not be put down to “simply suicide”.

The inquest will also look at the adequacy of the police responses to the complaints of domestic and family violence within the McLeod family and the responses by the health system around McLeod’s care and the responses of child protection agencies.

The first witness, Senior Constable James McKinley, testified that speed or a collision with an animal did not appear to be factors in the crash but both vehicles were travelling at 100km/h, which led to a “substantial impact”.

McKinley said he found McLeod’s note in a pink purse about five metres from her crashed vehicle after observing that emergency services could do no more to help the occupants inside.

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